#i took a test at home and the second line was slightly visible and tomorrow i'm getting an official one

[born-to-lose]

So I probably have covid 🤩

#i fucking hate everything #i took a test at home and the second line was slightly visible and tomorrow i'm getting an official one #and my mother is mad at me because she and my sister probably have it too and of course it's because of 'my fucking concert' #she says we're all gonna die and honestly she can shove her sarcastic 'thank you' up her ass #love how she's completely ignoring the possiblity that i could have it from my classmate who's also positive and still went to school #or from everyone else in my class including the teachers who don't wear a mask and don't even fucking cough into their arm #there are literally so many ways i could have gotten it but nooo it's my fault again #fuck her so much #mel talks

[shelby-love]

KELLY SEVERIDE

Skeletons and Whatnot.

Requested: yes

Prompts: none

Warning(s): none

Author’s note: I feel like this is rubbish, but I also feel like it’s not. 50/50 (1.6K words - might come back to edit it tomorrow)

Also you can see how tired I am (it's 4:30AM) I mean what is this title??? GOOD NIGHT.

~

"That's not possible. Check again."

"But I already did! Like a million times!"

"Adam, I swear to God-"

"Alright, alright…" Your colleague mumbled, turning on his chair to run the data yet again.

While he sat on the chair, looking through files he didn't have a clue about, you were leaning against the wall and shaking in your boots. Your heart hammered and your palms felt clammy.

Not possible. I killed him.

"No look it says right there," Adam declared; proud of himself for being able to gather information like this on his own. "Some girl named Lucy Riggs pawned a gun she got off some guy named Jon Prescott.

You squinted your eyes at the information that made no sense. "Get to the point."

Adam visibly swallowed, "Turns out the guy's name isn't Jon. Shocker. It's actually Parker Torres."

Your blood ran cold at his words. A million thoughts raced through your head. You wondered where he was, what he was doing… The questions that evaded your mind are usually normal, but here, when you thought about the dark man of your past, the questions seemed to be anything but normal.

"What about the gun?"

Adam clicked away until a picture of a metallic gun popped out. "Smith & Wesson Model 64 revolver."

Next thing you knew, a chain of vulgar profanities escaped your mouth, and you couldn't stop them. Ruzek's eyes widened ever so slightly at your lack of composure. "Mind telling me what this all about?"

You took a deep breath. "My skeleton escaped the closet."

***

The lack of information you found within the last couple of days was mind blowing. The only lead you had was the gun that wasn't even in your possession, having gotten lost in a misfit of undocumented sales.

Lucy wasn't of help either. The poor girl just wanted to get rid of her husband's gun, saying everything but useful information along the way. "If he wants a gun, then he better get a good one… A new one too! I don't want that piece of garbage in my house. God only knows who used that gun!" Lucy told you, just 48 hours ago. Those exact same words.

She was right about one thing.

That dammed gun went through so many hands and took double more lives.

And you didn't even have a lead.

"You look like crap," Kevin Atwater teased, handing you a steaming cup of coffee.

You didn't even manage to smile, looking at him through your shades that were, so far, doing a great job at concealing the bags under your eyes from the world.

"Rough night?"

"Mhmm."

Kevin didn't know that you no longer lived with Kelly. The temporary solution to your problems turned out to be moving back to your own place. Putting Kelly in harm's way, no matter how much he thought otherwise, was something you didn't want to do. The comfort of his bed and body were replaced by a thin blanked and an uncomfortable dining chair.

Dozens of glass decorations were laid out all over your apartment. On every window still, next to every door… On every surface, really. You slept on the dining chair 5 yards from your front door with a pistol strapped to your back, a shotgun under the chair and a rifle wrapped around your two arms, acting as a teddy bear for every time you dozed off.

Friends from Interpol would call here and there, with nothing more than sad news.

Hank Voight was pulling out every contact from his little notebook, but not even they could solve your years long case.

You wanted to throw up.

"Hey Kev."

"What's up?"

"You still friends with that FBI agent?"

***

"Second floor clear," The grip on your radio loosened after the second you needed to inform your team about your situation had passed and you moved on upstairs. You could hear them respond in the same matter as you held your gun with both hands and carefully climbed up the stairs.

You didn't let a sound slip your lips as you trekked the stairs up to the very last floor, save for the attic. For a drug house, everything was eerily quiet. It didn't feel like someone left in a hasty hurry.

It felt like as though there was no one there in the first place.

Your need to report that to your Sergeant faded away quickly once you saw smoke. It seized your full attention within a few seconds.

Smoke grenade was your first guess. Nasty things but nothing new.

That was, until you took several steps closer and the smell of the source journeyed through your nostrils. It clicked in your head immediately. Three years of being a squad lieutenant's girlfriend can do that to you. The scent of fire is nauseating and sweet, putrid and steaky, or something like leather being tanned over a flame. The smell  of it can be so thick and rich that it's almost a taste. Kelly's words rung in your head, and  you pulled your radio to your mouth.

"Call CFD! There's a fire on the third floor!" You informed, shielding your eyes. "Stand down! I repeat –"

Things went black after those words.

***

"We have a detective trapped on the third floor," Voight informed the first responders. "That's where the fire started."

Wallace nodded, "Squad 3, take the third floor."

Unlike Wallace, who had found his source of information in Voight, Kelly Severide had found it in Jay, who stood on the street visibly stressed. "Jay where's Y/N?"

Jay frowned, "She went to scope ahead. She was on the third floor when the whole place just blew up…"

"She could be unconscious right now," Kelly muttered. "Squad 3 let's go!"

Kelly Severide was already in the burning building when Chief Boden found out just who was trapped upstairs. "Dammit."

***

"Y/N?!"

Kelly's patience was thinning by the second. Knowing that his time is limited and that the place could blow in a stronger matter at any moment, he paced toward your unconscious body expeditiously.

Noticing the angry streak of blood that came from your nose had his heart in his throat. You were twisted in a way not normal for a human body to be in, catching him off guard the moment he laid his eyes on you.

Despite all that, Kelly still swooped in to grasp your limp body in his arms.

The stress of the last few days he went through didn't come close to a match with this very moment. "I'm coming down chief!"

For a moment Wallace wanted to bark back, but he bit his tongue. Love makes people do crazy things.

He knew that better than anyone.

"Get the hoses ready!" Boden announced and turned to the Intelligence.

"She'll be okay."

***

You were okay.

Maybe even better than you thought possible.

"Kelly wake up."

You smiled cheekily at doctor Mannig, who stood by your hospital bed, waiting for Kelly to wake up with the same thin line of patience as you.

You woke him up with a slap to his shoulder.

Natalie was beaming, her eyes sparkled despite the fact that she was the doctor to the most heavily guarded patient in the whole city of Chicago. "I think congratulations are in order."

"What do you mean?"

She winked before handing you the tablet, "You're 11 weeks along Y/N. Congratulations you two."

You shook your head wildly and pressed a palm to your mouth, acting out what your defense mechanism wanted you to do. "Oh God…"

"Really?" Kelly asked next to you. He had already grabbed your hand and gripped it tightly, holding you to the ground of your new reality. "Are you for real?"

She nodded, "The tests don't lie. I'm so happy for you two."

Natalie hugged you both closely before disappearing back into the crowded ER.

"Hey," Kelly murmured, grasping your chin with his index finger and thumb. "What's wrong? You're not happy? I thought…"

You shook your head immediately, stopping him from saying something that was untrue. "No, Kelly… I'm really happy."

Two heartbeats within one body. Your body.

A child that was going to take after you and the man you loved most in this world…

You felt so incredibly lucky at that moment.

Yet so guilty.

"Our baby could've died today…"

Fresh onset of tears attacked your eyes, pushing through until the moisture was dripping down your face, and you tried to muffle the hiccups with your hands. Everything started to make sense.

"Baby you didn't know…" He tried to calm you.

You shook your head violently, dropping his attempts into the water. "I should've known better. We didn't use protection... Then I felt so sick last week."

"Y/N-"

"But I was so obsessed with Parker Torres that-" You couldn't even finish the sentence because the guilt turned into anger. "God I'm so stupid!"

"Babe, look at me," Kelly's voice hardened yet the hands with which he cupped your face were gentle and comforting. "You didn't know, so none of this is your fault. If you knowingly went in there that's when it would have been your fault."

He kissed your tears away and gave you the softest smile ever. "Do you want to have this baby with me? Because if you don't, we can…"

You stopped him with a kiss.

You were venerable in the moment of the kiss, yet you never felt more at home. In this kiss is the promise of years of love and the sweetness of life. No one mattered at that moment. Not Parker… Not anyone. Only you two and the vow you just shared.

The next few weeks will be hard, that much you knew. You were introduced to a new reality and priorities shifted. The hunt for your skeleton will continue in the hands of the people you trust most and as months go by the light will greet the darkness of your tunnel.

But the next few years, you see nothing but light and happiness.

No skeletons to torture your life, but a baby and a soulmate to make it better.

TAGS (all posts): @fofisstilinski @short-potato @miranda0102  @httphiddlestan @caromichaela @xx-missunicorn-xx @jemmakates @lorenakaspersen @scarletsoldierrr​ @theravenclawmarauder @httphiddlestan @tclaerh @chefdoeuvre

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MASTERLIST

#Kelly Severide #kelly severide imagine #kelly severide fanfiction #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide masterlist #Chicago Fire #chicago fire fanfiction #chicago fire imagine #chicago fire fanfictio #Chicago PD #chicago pd imagine #chicago pd fanfiction #chicago pd x reader

[chloelucia13]

Chapter 14: Suzie, Do you Copy?

Pairing: none for the moment (currently Jonathan Byers x (kinda) Platonic!Henderson!reader)

Prompt:  You always thought Hawkins was the most boring town of all, stuck in a vacuum void of excitement and entertainment. Well, it seems that way until the world decided to flip upside down, literally.

Chapter Summary: Dustin’s return to Hawkins had overjoyed you, but other than that, there was no change to the normal routine of your summer. At least, that’s what you thought.

Warnings: Mostly fluff, spoilers (obvi), language, mentions of violence, injuries, pretty chill tbh

Word Count: 2764

A/N: AHHHH, I’m back finally! I’m so sorry I took so long to update this story! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back onto this series and update it regularly like I used to, but I can’t make any promises. For the time being, I hope you enjoy and make sure to keep an eye out for any updates! As always, my taglist and ask box is open! 

Tags: @just-my-fandom​, @nightbu-g​

You couldn’t recall a time you had woken up earlier than nine a.m. in the past month.

In all honesty, you had considered just sleeping in until the very last minute scramble to get dressed, rush out the door, and get back before Dustin got home.

Unfortunately that plan could not be executed as your mother woke you up, knowing you well enough that she could predict your plans.

And that was why you were at the mall at 10 a.m., your gaze focused on the floor as you made the trek over to Scoops Ahoy. Surprisingly, there was a small line in the shop, considering it wasn’t even lunchtime yet.

As you finally stood at the counter and lifted your head, Steve visibly relaxed, his “customer service” persona fading. “Oh thank god, it’s just you,” he sighed, leaning against the counter.

“Just little ol’ me,” you hummed, absentmindedly rubbing at your eye. “God, has the day already gone to shit for you, Steve?”

“Well, he’s already struck out twice if that’s any indication,” Robin piped up, peeking through the window that peered into the back area.

“Twice? Didn’t you guys open just an hour ago?” 

“Don’t rub it in,” Steve huffed, a frown sinking onto his features.

“Fine, fine.”

You and Steve had grown close in the past six months, sharing a special bond that you honestly needed. Though you couldn’t decide if the bond grew from him literally saving your life, or from your significant others (well, for Steve at least) dating each other rather than you two. Both, probably.

“Are you here to order something or just to bully me?” he spoke finally, pulling his ice cream scooper from his makeshift-holster. 

“Right, right. Just a pint of cookie dough and a pint of strawberry,” you instructed, pulling a ten out of your pocket.

He nodded and began scooping the two pints of ice cream. “Who’s the cookie dough for?”

“Dustin.”

He looked up at you, his brows furrowed in confusion. “He’s coming back today?”

“Yeah!”

He sealed the lid of the cookie dough pint. “No one tells me anything!”

You rolled your eyes. “Steve, I told you this two days ago.”

You heard Robin let out a laugh in the back room and Steve pressed his lips into a line. “Do you want ice cream or not?!”

You laughed. “Come on, you know you’d never deprive your two favorite people of ice cream.”

He rolled his eyes and finished up the second pint, sliding both of them over to you as you handed him the $10 bill. “Do you work today?”

“Unfortunately. I’m just hoping I’ll be home before dark tonight because they’ve been fucking keeping me for hours after closing.”

“Doesn’t the pool close at like five?”

“Yup,” you huffed, popping the ‘p.’ “And, to top it all off, I’m stuck with Heather  and Billy today.”

The two of you cringed simultaneously. “Can’t say I’d rather be you.”

“Thanks for the support.” You took the change from Steve and stuffed it into your pocket before cradling both pints of ice cream in your arms. “Well, I gotta drop these off at home and then sit in the sun for a few miserable hours. I’ll call you when I get home.”

***

Your soul nearly left your body when a chorus of screams erupted in the kitchen as soon as you stepped in the front door. They fell silent a moment later, though, and a voice echoed out, “Oh, it’s just you.”

With a hand clutched over your chest, you rolled your eyes. “Sorry to disappoint you guys with my presence, but can we avoid killing me the next time you see me?” you huffed, still struggling to take in a proper breath.

We thought you were Dustin,” Lucas explained, a party blower between his teeth.

“Yeah, I figured.” You brushed past the group and put the ice cream in the freezer. “Can someone make sure that Dustin gets his ice cream? I won’t be able to see him until later tonight.”

“I can,” Will spoke up, raising his hand in the air.

“Finally, someone I can count on.” You grabbed the drawstring bag that held all of your items and slung it over your shoulder. “How’s Jonathan enjoying his job at the newspaper?”

There was a small silence. “You haven’t talked to him about it?” Mike spoke up, and Max swatted his arm.

You shook your head, the healing scratch on your eye beginning to burn slightly. “No, not yet. We’ve, uh... We’ve both been too busy. We haven’t talked in a couple of weeks.” More like a month.

There was another silence before Will spoke. “He likes it. He has the dark room all to himself,” he explained, his voice gentle and hesitant.

“Good. That’s good. Tell him I said hi, or something.” You cleared your throat before turning to the group and giving them a smile. “I gotta head to work. You guys have fun, okay?”

***

God, you felt like vomiting.

Everything seemed to be going wrong today, like you forgetting to bring your sunscreen and sunglasses, Billy and Heather’s constant pestering and gossiping, Billy ignoring his job so he could flirt with Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Wheeler completely ignoring you so she could flirt with Billy, the dozens of kids that had coined multiple nicknames for you and your scar, and the 101 degree temperature that was unrelenting.

Luckily, though, the day was close to coming to an end. Most of the crowd had thinned, excluding a couple of kids who spent the whole day there anyways and adults who insisted on lingering until they absolutely had to leave. 

The shriek of a whistle startled you from your thoughts, your head slipping from your hand and making you lurch forward slightly. A group of muffled cackles sounded to your right, and you rolled your eyes. “Can I help you, or are you just here to make my life a living hell,” you grumbled, snapping your gaze over to Billy and Heather.

“Well, I was gonna ask if you wanted a water, but I guess not,” Heather huffed, stubbornly crossing her arms over your chest.

You gave her a doubtful glance. “Were you really?”

She laughed. “No. Now get up, It’s my turn on deck.”

With a huff you stepped down the ladder and tucked your book and raft under your arm. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Billy step closer. “Billy, if you push me in the pool you’re gonna wake up with no fucking mullet tomorrow.”

The pair just laughed behind you condescendingly, and you stomped away with a scowl etched on your face.

Ever since the... altercation that occurred months ago, Billy had kept his distance from you. It was a relief, knowing that he wouldn’t test your limits for the sake of his own health. But that didn’t stop him from sprinkling in some teasing every single time he spoke to you.

The hot concrete stung the soles of your feet, and you picked up your pace so you could get to the office before your feet blistered.

“Hey, no running!”  You froze at the voice, your eyebrows knitting together in confusion. Slowly, you turned on your heel to face the source. 

Jonathan stood behind the fence, his hands in his pockets and a shy smile on his face.

“Jonathan?” you whispered, tilting your head slightly as if you were a dog. 

“Hey Y/N,” he hummed, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.

A small smile settled on your face and you walked over to the fence, a silent sigh of relief leaving your lips when your feet settled on the grass that bordered the fence. “Hey! W-What are you doing here? I thought you got out the same time that I did?”

“I do, I just uh... I wanted to go on a walk.”

You nodded. “Oh, okay.”

“And I uh, I wanted to see you. Just see how you were doing, I mean.”

You let out a small chuckle, hooking your fingers through one of the chain links in the fence. “I’m doing good. I mean, as good as I can be sitting in the heat for five hours straight with no sunglasses. How have you been?”

“I-I’m good. Isn’t Dustin back in town?”

“He is, he just got back today. I haven’t seen him yet, though. How’s your job at the paper going?”

“It’s good, really good. I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“That’s good to hear.”

The two of you stood silently, avoiding each other’s gaze except for the spare glances you’d risk. 

“I should get going,” Jonathan spoke finally, a hint of reluctance in his voice. 

“Right, yeah,” you hummed, clearing your throat. “It was good to see you, Johnny.”

“You too.” His mouth opened as if he wanted to say more, but he decided against it, giving you an awkward wave before walking away.

You lingered there for a moment, an all-too-familiar ache in your chest as you watched him walk away from you.

***

After rinsing off, getting changed, and making a final check of the area, you were finally off for the night. You could feel your shoulders nearly weighing your entire body down and your eyelids were extremely close to falling shut at any moment. Silently, you made the trek through the parking lot and over to your car. 

You hopped in the driver’s seat and fished your key out of your bag before putting it in the ignition and twisting.

And twisting again.

And one more time.

Shit.

You slammed your hands against the wheel and let out a groan, throwing your head back against the headrest. “Of course. Of fucking course,” you grumbled.

Then you began to weigh your options. The first idea that came to your mind was walking home, but you quickly decided against it as you were too exhausted and it was too far. 

Your next idea was to walk over to The Hawkins Post and see if you could catch a ride with Jonathan. But you knew that wherever Jonathan was, Nancy would also be. For a moment, you contemplated swallowing your embarrassment and fear and just do it, but again, you decided against that option.

Then you thought about using the phone in the office to call Steve, but you had no idea if he was even home.

And after running through all of the ideas in your mind, you last ditch plan walked past your peripheral.

You shoved all of your disgust down and hopped out of your car, rushing to try and catch up.

“Billy!” you shouted, trying to stuff your keys back in your bag as you jogged over to him.

He stopped and turned to look at you, part-confusion and part-annoyance wrinkling his features. “What?” he huffed.

“Can you, um...” You shifted awkwardly, the reality of the moment catching up to you. “Would you mind giving me a ride home? My car won’t start.”

He rolled his eyes, fishing a pack of cigarettes out from his leather jacket. “Y’know, any other night I’d love to, but I’ve actually got plans tonight. Call a tow truck or something.”

“Billy, please.” Your shoulders slumped. “I don’t live that far from you.”

“Who said I was going home?” 

Your jaw tightened and you pulled your bag higher up on your shoulder. “I’ll pay you $20. Just please.”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend to do it? I saw you talking to him earlier.”

“He’s not my boyfriend! Goddammit-” You cut yourself off, taking a deep breath and scrubbing a hand over your face. “$50.”

He stood there a moment, placing a cigarette between his teeth as he silently debated it. “Fine. But you’re paying me upfront.”

You bit your tongue and refrained from snapping at him, instead pulling your wallet from your bag and handing him a $50 bill. He snatched it from your fingers and shoved it in his back pocket before nodding his head over to his car and heading that way. 

Though the anxiety from asking him was gone, it was replaced with the anxiety of being in a vehicle with a man who very clearly hated your guts. Your brain was nagging you to just walk home, but you pushed the annoying warnings away and got in the passenger seat.

Billy had exited the parking lot before you even had a chance to put on your seatbelt, the engine roaring as he tore down the empty streets. The ride was silent other than that annoying engine, his godawful music, and your heart racing so loudly and harshly that you felt as if you were about to have a heart attack.

Whether it was your panic or your swarming thoughts, you had zoned out for the first few minutes of the ride. When you finally came to, you realized that you were nowhere near your house. “Did you take a wrong turn?” you mumbled, brows furrowing confusedly.

He scoffed, pulling his lower lip between his teeth. “No, I have an errand to run,” he explained as if you were stupid, as if you were already aware of his plans.

Oh my god, he’s gonna kill me.

You gulped, gripping onto your drawstring bag. “What errand?”

“Well, I had already made plans with Karen before you decided to ask for my help, so you’re tagging along.”

Your jaw dropped and you turned in your seat to face him. “You’re making me sit in the car while you hook up with Mrs. Wheeler? You said you were gonna take me home!”

“I did, but I didn’t specify when.” He was grinning from ear to ear, and you had to move your hands under your thighs so you didn’t smack that look off of his face.

“You motherfucker. Literally.”

He rolled his eyes. “Shut up and get in the back seat. I don't want her seeing you.”

It was your turn to scoff. “Excuse me?” 

“I said-”

His words were cut off by a large object hitting the windshield, making both of you jump and causing him to lose control of the vehicle. The car spun off of the road and collided into a tree on your side, making Billy’s head collide into his door and crushing your door into your body.

A slew of curses and grunts fell from your mouth as you worked your way out of the seat, feeling your ribs ache with each breath as you finally got out from between the door and the center console. You sat down on the center console and gripped onto the back of the seat for balance.

“Oh, no,” Billy grumbled from beside you, eyes wide as he took in the damage. The stereo still spat out a distorted and garbled sound that resembled the music that were playing earlier as Billy tried to restart the car, to no avail. “Piece of shit.”

You finally glanced over at him. “You’re bleeding,” you wheezed out, watching the blood drip down his forehead and into his eye.

He reached up and touched the wound, pulling away and glancing down at his fingers with disdain. “Shit.” He slammed his hand against the steering wheel before shoving his door open and crawling out. You followed behind him, collapsing to the ground beside his feet. You gripped onto his arm and heaved yourself up.

Billy left your side to attempt to pry the passenger door open, only for a spew of expletives to fall from his mouth. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks for asking,” you huffed, leaning against the car and clutching your right side as he stomped past you and over to the front of the car.

“Shut up,” he grumbled, leaning close to the windshield and gliding his finger along the spiderwebbed glass. “What the hell?”

A strange ooze clung to his finger, stretching between his hand and the windshield with a strong elasticity. “Fuck.”

A rustling in the shrubs near the building you stood by attracted both of your attention, your heart leaping to your throat.

“Who’s there!” Billy shouted, his body standing straight up.

“I don’t think it’s a who,” you grumbled, reaching for your pocket knife in your back pocket.  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

As you opened your mouth to explain, Billy fell to the ground and was lugged away by a snaking vine. You screamed, but before you could move onto the car and off of the ground, a similar vine wrapped around your legs and dragged you through the dirt

#stranger things #stranger things 3 #stranger things season 3 #Jonathan byers #Jonathan x reader #billy hargrove #Steve harrington #dustin henderson #will byers #Joyce byers #mike wheeler #eleven #Nancy wheeler #Lucas sinclair #max mayfield #jim hopper #platonic!reader #henderson!reader #stranger things x reader #st x reader #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fan fiction #fanfic #fan fic #stranger things 2 #st imagine #st one shot #st series

[moldisgoodforyou]

the pregnancy scare

warning: cursing (always!), mentions of sex, mentions of period/pregnancy

wordcount: 2.5k

it was reckless, and stupid, but after a night out, jj and charlie were both drunk and forgot the condom until he was in her, close to reaching their high. then she paused, tugging his hair to get his attention. “j, baby, we forgot a step.”

“what step?” he asked, confused.

“um...I don’t remember. something’s missing.” charlie shook her head, too focused on her boyfriend and her slightly blurred vision to think. “dunno.” 

after a few more minutes of lazy thrusting and both of them reaching their peak, they realized at the same time. jj pulled out of her, and got up to amble to the restroom like usual. “the condom.” jj mumbled, eyes wide. 

“fuck.” charlie echoed, biting her lip. “no, I’m on the pill, it’ll be fine.”

“you’re sure? we can get you plan b in the morning.” he offered, pulling on his boxers and crawling back into bed with her.

she wrinkled her nose. “no, no, it’s fine. let’s just go to sleep.”

_

unfortunately, her track record with taking the pill on time was on par with jj’s track record of remembering anything after a drunken night out - basically nonexistent. they had completely forgotten about it the next day and woke up around 1pm, limbs tangled around each other. 

jj woke first, nudging her shoulder. “charlie. we gotta get up.” she groaned, burying her face into his chest. “don’t wanna. if I get up, I’ll be hungover.” he laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “and you’re not right now?” she lifted her head and caught his lips in a chaste kiss. “no, because I’m not up.” 

“well I have a half hour to get to my intramural game, and you’re supposed to coach us again. you drew that new route, remember?” he tried persuading her. she groaned and sat up finally, annoyed. “there are twenty guys on the whole team and you’re all useless on the field. it makes no sense.” 

he grinned. “so you won’t get up for me but you’ll get up for my football game?” she nodded, rubbing her eyes with a yawn. “like I said. I’m not dating a shitty athlete.” she squealed as he grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against his chest. “take that back, walker!” he exclaimed, nipping her neck. (they were ten minutes late to the game that day.)

_

the next couple weeks, charlie continued taking her pill in her usual manner - at 8pm one day, 3am the next, two in one day if she forgot the day before. then she passed the placebo week - and realized nothing came. 

her period had been late before, so she ignored it, chalking it up to weird hormones. but...two weeks later, she started to get worried. she confessed to her best friend, grace, what was going on, and grace immediately made her go and buy a pregnancy test. at first they joked about it in the CVS, then charlie’s anxiety set in on the car ride home. 

“grace, what if I’m...” 

grace shook her head, confident. “you’re not. there’s no way.” 

“I can’t handle a child right now. I can barely take care of myself.” charlie confessed. “grace, I had cheerios with grape juice for breakfast because we ran out of milk.” 

grace gave her a look. “look, charlie, first of all, you’re not pregnant. second of all, that’s disgusting. you couldn’t eat cheerios dry?” 

charlie shrugged. “I don’t know! see, I can’t be a parent!” 

grace pulled into their driveway and the two of them went upstairs, straight to their shared bathroom. grace ushered charlie inside, taking a seat outside the door. “let me know when you’re done.” 

a few minutes later, charlie opened the door, the pregnancy test sitting on a carefully folded square of toilet paper on the counter. “it’s gotta be a no, right? like, there’s no way. I’m just going crazy.” 

grace nodded, hopping up to sit on the counter. “you’re fine. you’re totally fine! how much longer?” 

charlie nodded to a timer set on her phone. “three minutes.” 

it was the longest three minutes of her life.

as the timer went off, charlie took a step back. “I can’t look. you do it.” grace paused, reaching for the stick. “you sure?” 

she nodded. “please. tell me the good news.” 

grace hopped off the counter, then hesitated. “um.” 

charlie’s eyes grew wide. “you’re kidding.” grace held it out toward her, shaking her head. “I don’t know. that’s faint, right? like hardly two lines?” charlie took the test, examining it, then felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest. “those are bold, grace. that’s positive.” 

grace winced. “those can be wrong all the time. and you have bad eyesight, I wouldn’t be so sure -” 

“no, that’s definitely fucking positive.” charlie interrupted, staring at the stick. “...what are you gonna do? tell jj?” grace asked, taking it from her to refocus her attention. charlie shook her head, right away. “hell no. I...I’m going to not think about it this week, because I have two tests and a big kinesiology lab and I can’t afford to fuck those up.” 

grace frowned. “okay, we’re scheduling a doctor’s appointment on friday then. after all that.” charlie shook her head. “jj will know something’s up, it’ll have to be saturday. I’ll say I have some kappa thing.” 

“are you sure you shouldn’t tell him? I mean...it’s his dick that got you into this mess.” grace reasoned. charlie rolled her eyes. “one week will be fine. I’m just going to ignore it! it’s fine. I’m fine!” she tried convincing herself, her voice getting higher pitched with stress. grace set her hands on charlie’s shoulders, trying to center her. “hey! it’s fine. secret’s safe with me.” 

_

charlie did exactly that, ignoring the situation all week. she also ignored jj, afraid she would spill at a moment’s notice. jj chalked it up to stress from school, knowing she had a lot to deal with that week. to make matters worse, he was the ideal boyfriend - dropping off food in the library for her, keeping her company as she stayed up to study, walking her home from a late night group project meeting. 

he could sense something was off, the way she didn’t lean into his touch like normal, or how she flinched away when he tried to press a kiss to her temple as she studied. he was a little annoyed, and wanted her attention, but stayed sweet anyway. 

friday night, he walked her home, hand in hand. when she gave him a goodnight kiss at the door, not inviting him in, he was a little hurt. “I thought you wanted to watch that new movie tonight, after all your work was done this week?” he questioned, catching her hand to try and pull her in again. charlie shook her head, pulling away and reaching for the door. “not tonight, I want to get ahead on a paper. night, jj.” he frowned. “love you. goodnight, walker.” she nodded, going inside without another word. 

he got about five minutes home on his walk before he realized she had his keys stuffed in her backpack from earlier, after he had complained about not having pockets. he turned on his heel and walked back, not realizing that charlie was having an existential crisis in the living room over a bowl of ice cream with grace. 

he punched in the code to the keypad, then walked in - at just the wrong moment. 

“and you’re 100% sure two lines is positive?” grace questioned, holding the stick in her hand. 

“what’s positive? do you have a fever or something?” jj asked as he strolled into the living room, mistaking the pregnancy test for a thermometer. 

the two girls froze, glancing at jj then sharing a glance of simultaneous panic. 

“uh...I’m gonna go.” grace quickly excused herself, wrapping the test back up then setting it on the coffee table. she practically ran upstairs, leaving jj utterly confused. 

he knelt down to press his hand to charlie’s forehead, concerned. “are you sick? is that why you’ve been weird all week?” he reached for the pregnancy test and charlie lunged for it, holding it out of his reach. “no! no, I’m not sick. just, uh, busy with studying.” she lied horribly, a telltale blush rising to her cheeks. 

jj frowned. “what is that?” 

charlie swallowed what felt like a lump in her throat. “um. well. you see, it’s a funny story.” 

jj furrowed his brow and took the test from her, charlie not resisting. he looked it over, confused. “this is a weird thermometer.” 

charlie bit her lip. “well, you see, it’s not a thermometer. um. it’s a pregnancy test. and it’s positive.” she rambled. “so. uh. surprise!” 

jj shook his head. “no, that’s not right.” 

charlie raised her eyebrows. “no, it’s right.” 

he shook his head again. “no, you’ve been acting strange, and kind of rude, frankly - no offense - but you’re always like this on your period. so you have it this week. right?” 

charlie frowned, yanking the test away from him. “my period is late, jj. I’m pregnant. two lines means I’m pregnant.” 

that was the first time she had said those words out loud, and they sunk in for both of them in silence for a few seconds. jj sputtered, tugging at his hair. “you’re pregnant? oh my god.” he started pacing around the living room, not looking at her. “oh my god. that’s fine, that’s totally fine. um. good job, char...great...uterus.” 

charlie reached out, smacking him upside the head. “I’m not having your baby, idiot, I’m 21! god damnit, focus!” 

jj yelped, rubbing his head. “careful with the name calling, jesus!” her words finally made it to his brain. “wait, you’re not having the baby?” 

she shook her head. “god, no, that’s not in my ten year plan. I’m going to the doctor tomorrow anyway, then I’ll get a blood test and see for real.” 

jj visibly relaxed, then frowned. “you were going to go without me? when were you going to tell me?” charlie faltered. “I...I don’t know. I was stressed out, and I didn’t want to think about it this week with all my tests and whatever.” she reached out, locking her fingers with his. “but I want you to come. tomorrow.” 

he nodded, pulling her into a tight hug. “okay. it’ll be okay. we got this.” 

_

the next morning, he drove her to the doctor’s office, squeezing the life out of her hand the entire time. they didn’t talk, charlie just stared out the window and jj kept his eyes on the road like his life depended on it. (she didn’t see that he took the less-trafficked route that was a little safer - just in case.) he was uber-protective as they went into the doctor’s office, foot tapping anxiously once they sat in the waiting room. 

her name was called and he stood, ready to follow her in, but she shook her head. “I think I have to go alone, j.” charlie told him apologetically, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be quick.” jj frowned but nodded, giving her a quick kiss back. “you got this. negative blood.” he joked. she offered a weak smile back, clearly nervous as she followed the nurse back into the offices. 

she came out a bit later, holding a couple pamphlets about pregnancy and looking a little pale. jj wasn’t much better, having thought about kids the entire time she was in with the doctor. “how’d it go?” he greeted, looping an arm around her shoulders as they walked out. she shrugged. “they’ll call me in two to three days. probably three, because the lab isn’t open on sunday.” 

“shit.” jj mumbled, gripping her shoulders tighter. she shook her head. “it’ll be fine! we’ll just...go about life like normal, without a baby, because I’m not pregnant. if I say it out loud enough times it’ll happen.” jj sighed. “I don’t think that manifesting shit actually works, charlie -” 

he was met with a glare. “do you want a baby, jj? at 21? while we’re still in college?” 

he shook his head quickly. “no!” 

she nodded, resolute. “right. say it with me. not pregnant.” she repeated herself a couple more times until he joined in. “not pregnant.” they said in tandem. 

that became their manifesto over the next few days, at every opportunity. when she poured herself a glass of wine the second they got home, then they both reconsidered (just in case). he took the glass from her, taking a long gulp. “not pregnant.” 

“not pregnant.” charlie echoed, pouring herself a glass of grape juice instead. 

_ 

charlie got the call three days later, in class. her hands were shaking as she declined the call, unable to do anything during the lecture. the doctor’s office left a voicemail and the second she got out of class, she sprinted the two miles to the beta house, backpack bouncing with every step. she was out of breath as she jogged up the stairs to jj’s room, pushing past a few pledges without as much as a hello. 

she practically kicked in jj’s door and he glanced up from the bed, confused. “what is wrong with you?” she opened her mouth to speak then shook her head, hands on her knees for a second as she caught her breath. “doctor. doctor called.” 

“not pregnant.” jj immediately responded. charlie dropped her backpack to the floor and fished out her phone, then tossed it to him. “you play it. I can’t.” he shook his head. “no, you do it. it’s your phone. it’s your uterus.” 

“jj, if you talk about my uterus one more time, I will rip your fucking head off.” 

“if this is you not pregnant, you’re going to be hell while you’re pregnant.” 

“jj!” 

he raised his hands in surrender. “okay, okay, fine!” he typed in her passcode and she sat on the bed next to him, then grabbed the phone away to turn on the volume. 

“hi charlotte, this is dr. brown from the clinic. I was just calling to tell you about your results from your blood test. we sent them through the lab on Monday -” 

“good god, woman, just tell us.” jj got out through gritted teeth, tense.

“and I wanted to let you know the results are negative. you’re not pregnant. call if you have -”

jj and charlie sat in complete silence for a moment as they processed, then yelled at the exact same time, not hearing the rest of the message. “not pregnant!” charlie exclaimed, grinning for what felt like the first time since the doctor’s. “not pregnant!” jj yelled back, picking her up by the waist and spinning her in a circle. 

charlie giggled as he set her down. she grabbed jj’s face with both her hands, pulling him in for a deep kiss. he grinned into the kiss, then pulled back to rest his forehead on hers. “I thought you didn’t want a baby, charlie.” she stepped back, glaring. “jj maybank, I will hurt you.” he laughed at the empty threat. 

“can we get margs?” she asked, grabbing his car keys. “it’s 1pm. on a tuesday.” jj countered, raising his eyebrows. charlie held up the keys, jingling them. “a celebration. not pregnant.” he laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist and ushering her out the door. “not pregnant.” 

#unedited but I wanted to write #jj maybank #jj maybank imagine #college jj #frat jj #jj maybank obx #jj maybank fanfic #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank x oc #jj x charlie #mine

[be11atrixthestrange]

Step 9: Making Plans

From 12 Fail-Safe Ways To Charm Hermione Granger

Making Plans

A successful relationship means aligning your future. It's important to include one another in decisions, communicate your goals clearly, and remember your choices will affect your partner. Moving the relationship forward is a joint effort, and clear communication will make clear plans, and help manage the unexpected.

*****

If Ron could pinpoint one major difference between himself and Hermione, it would be this: Hermione was a planner, and Ron was not. During their school years, Ron frequently relied on Hermione's revising schedules before exams, or at least he tried to before inevitably entering examination rooms at least somewhat unprepared. During the horcrux hunt, he figured the best way to do something was just to do it, and he felt that Hermione's strategizing slowed them down quite a bit. They ended up going into the battle of Hogwarts without a plan, and everything (for the most part) worked out just fine— nothing that planning more would have fixed.

More recently, Hermione made an itinerary for a vacation to Italy. They managed to sync time off from their busy schedules, and Ron was ecstatic about some free time in a new country that he'd never been to before. Then he saw Hermione's hour by hour schedule for the week, and suddenly, their holiday felt like another busy week at work. She had spreadsheets— some barmy muggle organizing systems— to keep track of their shared finances and bills, and she planned each purchase before she made it. She meal-prepped, and bought groceries accordingly. She even had a system for apartment chores— the kitchen was always cleaned on Sundays and laundry was done on Saturdays, and if Ron shook it up it caused a domino effect that he couldn't even begin to predict.

He loosened her up quite a bit though. After seeing their Italy itinerary, he encouraged her to cross out half of it, and just wing it. She obliged, but not without scowling, and as a result, they discovered new corners of wizarding Italy that they would never have found in guidebooks, because Ron met the right person in a bar. When she got her end of year bonus at work, he encouraged her not to save all of it, just be a little bit irresponsible for once, and he came home to find that floor to ceiling bookshelves now lined the walls of their sunroom, filled to the brim with new, crisp, untapped stories. There were those nights when Ron convinced her to dress up and dine out with him even when she'd already made a plan for dinner. She might act inconvenienced at first, but there was always a gleam in her eye when she donned that fancy dress that never got worn, and they split not one, but two bottles of wine and ordered food they couldn't even pronounce. And of course, their home was usually spotless thanks to the chore schedule she'd made for them, but Ron liked it best when the laundry piled up a little, and dishes were left in the sink, and they distracted each other enough not to care.

Hermione begrudgingly agreed that she could let go and life happen every now and then, and Ron was quite good at adding a little bit of the unexpected into their relationship. And ultimately, Ron respected her commitment to planning, and admitted more of it would serve him well. That's why the next day would test both of them.

On their date tomorrow, Ron was going to ask her to marry him. He had it all planned out, down to every detail. The entire day was scheduled for them, just how she liked it. But the best part of the plan was that she was not expecting it at all.

They'd discussed it of course— he was quite confident she'd say yes. He wouldn't dare ask her otherwise.

Their discussions of marriage had evolved over the last few years. The first time he brought it up was after one year of living together. Ron figured that was enough time together, and engagement seemed like a logical next step for them.

He didn't propose to her, he simply asked her what she'd say if he did. It took him quite a bit of courage to ask her that, and unfortunately, her answer was not one Ron wanted, nor expected. Between "it's too soon" and "not enough time together" and "way too young" he regretted asking.

Granted, he didn't bring it up in an ideal manner. It was after a Friday night at the bar with Harry, Dean, Neville, and Seamus, and Ron hadn't exactly demonstrated the most mature version of himself. They were both drunk upon their return home, so his slurred inquiry fell upon the most stubborn, uninhibited, and emotional side of Hermione. Ron, who was slightly hurt by her response, reluctantly put the subject to rest.

He brought it up two years later at her cousin's wedding. Holly— Ellie's younger sister, who bore a striking resemblance to Hermione— wore a beautiful white dress that Ron couldn't help but picture on Hermione. He danced with her all evening, similar to the way they danced at his own brother's wedding years prior.

"Holly's dress is beautiful, isn't it?" she asked him.

Ron nodded against her head as they swayed on the dance floor. "It would look better on you." He braced himself for an unfavorable response. He was afraid she'd react the way she did that first time, but she needed to know it was on his mind. "I'd love to see you in a wedding dress someday, Hermione."

His heart was pounding, and his ears grew warmer, but he relaxed a little when she settled more heavily against him. "Someday, you will."

Not even a flock of canaries could have wiped the goofy grin from his face.

A year after that, Harry proposed to Ginny. Hermione was her maid of honor, and as expected, she jumped whole-heartedly into planning. The combination of Hermione's immaculate organization skills, Ginny's creativity, and Harry's money made their wedding one of the most fun and extravagant events Ron had ever been to.

Ron remembered waking up next to her the morning after. The periwinkle bridesmaid dress Ginny had chosen for her looked even better crumpled up on the floor beside their bed, and she'd never been more gorgeous with her matted hair and smeared makeup. They felt like hell— both had taken advantage of the open bar after fulfilling their wedding party duties, and neither could remember apparating back to their bedroom, but no one was splinched, and that's what mattered.

"Well, that was something," said Ron, recalling the blurry details of the night before. The live band, the five-course meal, the chocolate fountain, and Harry and Ginny's mystery cocktails made for the most memorable night that they couldn't recall.

"Is it bad that I'm glad it's over?" Hermione asked groggily.

Ron laughed. "No. It was a lot of work."

"Tell me about it," she said turning toward him. "When we get married, let's do something simple."

Ron was quite taken aback by how casually she mentioned this future wedding he'd heard nothing about. "When, or if?"

She smiled, as if clarifying was part of her plan. "When."

Ron beamed, and pulled her closer. "In that case, I'm going to propose to you, Hermione."

She beamed back. "Are you doing that now?"

"No," he said. "It's going to be a surprise."

"I hate surprises," she said cautiously. "So just so you're prepared, I'm going to say yes."

*****

The rest of the winter holiday break passed without many hiccups. Sure, there was a bicker every now and then, but it was nothing compared to their Hogsmeade fight, and always maintained a rather playful tone. They spent the majority of their daytime with Harry and Ginny, occasionally popping by the burrow for a meal. Molly mentioned they seemed just as comfortable with each other now than they did that summer, "as if no time had passed." Harry and Ginny's eye rolls and sarcastic comments just reassured Ron that no one had noticed the rift they had recently repaired.

Hermione seemed to be making a visible effort to show affection, and Ron appreciated her for it. Upon learning that he needed just a little more reassurance, she had buried any qualms she once had about holding his hand under the table at the burrow, or chastely kissing him in the garden when they weren't alone, or even leaning up against him on the living room sofa, and gently stroking his hair while his brothers smiled knowingly. She was even less inhibited in the bedroom. They spent their evenings thoroughly exploring each other's bodies, now that a new door had been opened. Sex quickly became Ron's new favorite activity, although he felt like a walking teenage stereotype admitting it. It wasn't just the physical pleasure— something about the new level of knowledge he now possessed about Hermione solidified his status as her partner. As if a new book in a series had just been released, he suddenly felt like his favorite fantasy world had expanded. He made it a goal to absorb this new knowledge as respectfully and with as much admiration as he possibly could, taking immense pleasure in the fact that he was even allowed to be there.

Ron had dreaded the second half of the holiday, because he had to go back to training, and she was leaving for Australia to visit her parents. Knowing Pigwidgeon would never be able to make that flight— not once, not twice, not nearly as many times as Ron would actually consider enough— he mentally prepared himself to go an entire week without hearing from Hermione. He also decided to call that progress— since two weeks ago, that would have felt like nothing.

They woke up together on the morning she had to leave. When she attempted to slide out of bed, he slipped his arm around her to prevent her.

"Don't leave," he mumbled into her hair.

"I have to," she said sadly. "I wish you could come with me."

"I can't." He tightened his arm around her and pressed his lips to her neck. "I wish I could write to you."

"Oh that reminds me," she said, wrestling out of Ron's grip. "I have another present for you." She leaned over the bed and pulled something shiny out of her bag.

"What's that?"

"Here," she said, placing one small gold coin in Ron's hand, and keeping another for herself.

"A galleon?"

"A fake one."

"Hold on, is this one of our DA galleons?"

"Yes! But I enchanted it further. Watch." She pulled out her wand and tapped the tip to the center of the coin, concentrating hard. The words "Hi Ron!" appeared. She showed him her coin, and the words had appeared on both.

Ron was dumbstruck. "We can communicate without owls?"

"Yes!" said Hermione.

"How did you think of this?"

"It's based on muggle technology, actually," she said. "My parents use pagers to communicate."

"I love muggles," said Ron, pulling her in for another hug. "And you."

"Love you too," she said, before pressing her lips to his. Her hands started to wander, and Ron forgot about the DA coins for the next few moments.

The new DA coins got quite a bit of use over the next week while Hermione was in Australia, and to Ron's excitement, when she went back to Hogwarts. It suddenly Ron felt like a wall had crumbled, and he had access to her daily life and thoughts. There was nothing better than feeling the gold coin in his pocket warm up, and seeing a short but telling message scrawled across the front. The short snippets of conversation helped him stay caught up on her thoughts.

...

Hermione: I just took a shot with my dad, what is happening?

Ron: Been there! Did he at least give you his expensive gin?

...

Ron: I'm pretty sure Harry is singing to himself in the shower. He's not bad, actually.

Hermione: You should join him!

Ron: …

...

Hermione: What are you up to?

Ron: Eating.

Hermione: Go figure

...

Ron lived for these kinds of conversations. "Don't accidentally spend it!" was what she had told him, as if anything would be remotely worth it.

Although the coins were great for constant access to communication, they were not ideal for detail. When Hermione went back to school, he continued his weekly letters, and was pleasantly surprised that she did too.

The letters picked up where the coins left off, and rather than catching each other up on their daily lives, they used them to make plans. With the letters, they could fully detail their Hogsmeade plans, provide more context for their texts, and even begin discussing their ideas for term-end. Ron used a letter to suggest that Hermione move into Grimmauld Place with him and Harry after graduation, and he was thrilled that he didn't have to wait anxiously for pig to bring back her response, which was a resounding yes.

They didn't include all plans in their letters, because Hermione still managed to surprise him for his birthday. He came home from work on March 1st to find her sitting at their kitchen table with a big smile on her face.

"How did you get here?"

"Floo!" she said as she launched into his arms. "I told McGonagall it was an emergency."

"And what was the emergency," Ron said, hugging her so tightly that he lifted her off his feet.

"Your birthday!"

"And she let you leave?" he asked incredulously. She nodded. "I thought you hated surprises," he continued.

"I do, but I know you like them."

"I love them," he told her. "But I have to work this weekend —"

"No, you don't!" she said. "Harry's covering for you."

Ron beamed. "Really? He's in on this?"

She nodded. "Least he can do, for all the years he spent, you know, getting in our way."

Harry was not there to interfere that night, and thankfully, she had even more surprises planned for him. Ron didn't wake up predicting sex that day, and he definitely hadn't expected her to be wearing lacy lingerie under her school robes. One of the best surprises was how confidently she led him to his room, and pushed him onto the bed, expertly undoing the buttons of his jeans while her mouth never left his. His attraction to her was only multiplied by how unafraid she was to tell him what she wanted, and less surprising, but still unexpected, was his discovery of how much he liked being told what to do. Auror training had given him plenty of practice in taking orders, but until that night, he'd never enjoyed being so obedient.

It was the best birthday that Ron could remember. They spent the entire weekend in bed, either making love, or not making love, and he was grateful for all of it. Only three more months until they could do this every night, which reminded Ron to continue the disjointed conversation they'd been having over enchanted galleons.

"So I know you were planning on moving in here," he started. "What if we got our own place?"

"What about Harry?"

"What about him?" asked Ron.

"Won't he be lonely without you?"

Ron snorted. "He'll have Ginny."

Hermione looked at him through narrowed eyes. "So he told you she's moving in?"

"I knew you knew!" he said playfully.

"You're ok with it?"

"No, but I don't want to live with it, I would feel better if we got our own place."

They agreed to wait until term ended to officially start apartment hunting, so that Hermione could fully focus on completing her NEWTS and job applications. When she went back to school, their communication faltered a little bit, but it didn't bother Ron as much as it did their first term, because he knew exactly why her letters were shorter, and he was thrilled she was making the effort.

Her letters were still detailed enough that he knew of each job application she submitted, and he could feel her excitement about one particular one— an entry-level position in the office of magical law. The open position specifically dealt with updating and passing laws regarding the rights of magical creatures and Ron felt that Hermione was completely mental to think she was anything but a shoe-in.

They planned to meet at the ministry for lunch before her interview, and Ron showed up expecting nothing short of panic from Hermione. He sat through lunch acting as an interviewer, and let her rehearse her answers and talking points for her entire meal. He probably asked her more questions about S.P.E.W that day than he ever did during their school years, and he was quite impressed to learn how much she knew about magical law, even though it was never a subject at Hogwarts. He might be biased, but if he were really interviewing her, he'd hire her on the spot.

"You're going to be amazing, you know that?"

"I'm going to fail."

"They'd be lucky to have you," he told her, leaning in for a kiss across the table. He truly felt that way, they'd have to be idiots not to hire her, but again, he might be biased.

She trembled the whole way into her interview. Before she entered the interview room, he stopped her, and pulled her into his arms. "Just take five deep breaths, Hermione." He held her there, syncing his breathing up with hers, just like he did when she had a nightmare. Eventually, he felt her shoulders relax, and her spine straighten. "You can do this. You're brilliant."

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully and kissed him goodbye, or at least what she thought was goodbye. What she didn't know was that Ron had taken the afternoon off, and would be taking her out for a— likely celebratory— drink when the interview was over.

He sat down on a hallway bench and waited.

Hermione was beaming when she left the room an hour later, followed by two older, official-looking ministry employees. Ron stood as they each shook Hermione's hand. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but they appeared to be making plans.

She bid them goodbye and turned to see Ron standing there. Ron smiled nervously— he knew she hated surprises. "You're still here?"

Ron nodded. "I figured you'd need a drink—"

He was interrupted by her flinging herself into his arms. "They hired me!"

Ron lifted her off her feet and kissed her, and in a way, it felt like their first kiss in the Room of Requirement. He didn't care that people he knew were passing them in the hallways, and some of them might be Hermione's future coworkers. He didn't care that snogging his girlfriend in a crowded ministry hallway contradicted the excuse he used to get out of work early— he wasn't coming down with anything contagious other than genuine elation.

They apparated back to Hogsmeade, and he took her out for a celebratory butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, so the bar was relatively empty, save for a few professors, but Ron and Hermione didn't care. They made their way to their favorite booth in the back of the bar, and toasted to Hermione's new job, because their plans were falling into place beautifully, like dominoes that had been so precariously set over the past eight years they'd known each other.

They spent that evening making plans, and all of their plans came true. Hermione aced her N.E.W.T.S. She graduated with top marks, and celebrated at the burrow with his family. She moved into Grimmauld Place temporarily, and after just two short weeks of researching and touring apartments, they moved into their very own flat. It was in a muggle neighborhood, but had a second guest room and was right on a train line so her parents could visit, but the thing that made it perfect was that she lived there. In a way, that evening at the Three Broomsticks felt like the first day of the rest of their lives— their future finally felt clear, and they could plan for it. But when she unexpectedly ordered another round, not of butterbeer— of firewhiskey, and suggested they rent a room at the Hog's head to keep celebrating, he realized some of the best parts of his future with her would be entirely unplanned.

#ROMIONE #hpromione #ronweasley #Hermione Granger #ron x hermione #ron and hermione #hp fanfic #hp ficlet #romione fanfic

[amethysttail]

Glaiveweek 2020- Day 6. Scabs to Scars

Day 6 of glaiveweek 2020! @glaiveweek

Prompt: The World has Stopped, Yet it keeps Turning- Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Summary: Galahd is dead. Its people flee for Lucis, desperate for sanctuary. It is granted, but takes time for the refugees to find a niche for themselves. Nyx and Libertus struggle to find their place where massacre haunts yesterday, hunger threatens today, and tomorrow is uncertain. 

Galahd was no more. Razed by incendiary rounds, crushed by mechs, and anything running in the shadows was shot by MTs, or ripped apart by demons. The people fled their shores, desperate to outpace the robotic tide. No one was spared, not even the children. Not a soul. Those who managed to get out made for the surrounding lands, in waves of refugees. King Regis of Insomnia accepted them graciously, his people did so too at first. 

Slums slowly filled with the survivors, packed and warm and dirty. It was never ideal, but people looked the other way when shoving immigrants into apartments nowhere near up to code. It was a relief, even. To people homeless from war, having a cramped, filthy space to call your own is still a haven. 

Nyx had a plan, at least. It was better than nothing- better than the dull task of surviving the day. To repay services rendered. The king’s retinue had arrived to hold off an assault as a ramshackle fleet of boats, waiting till the last second. Galahadians ran screaming for the shore...the boats couldn't wait...they were almost here...fire, sulfur...crystalline shields, holding them back...Nyx held her hand, dead sprint for the shore. She slipped. Get down, Selena!!!!

Nyx woke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. Libertus snored obliviously, sprawled over his half of the couch. Nyx struggled to control his breathing, trying not to further disturb the packed apartment. Crowe, a tiny scrap of a female, snarled in her sleep from her armchair nest. Snores and whimpers breathed down the halls from the overcrowded rooms. Nyx calmed slightly at the notion that he wasn’t alone in his pain. Nightmares were beyond common for everyone in the packed halls of the now-christened Galahd District. Days passed slowly, barely numbing the pain of yesterday. Nyx breathed deeply, settling back down. The cheap alarm clock on the side table read three thirty in the morning, just two more hours of sleep if he managed to pass out right this second. Nyx sighed, curling up into a ball. Odd jobs that he and Libs took were not going to cut it much longer. His face smoothed out as he snuggled deeper into the ratty couch, tugging the threadbare blanket about him. Tomorrow they would audition for the Kingsglaive. Rumor had it that the Citadel would accept anyone compatible with the king’s magic. Nyx grinned. Rumor also had it that Galahdians were strangely in tune with the crystal’s power. Today would be a good day. 

And it was. Nyx and Libertus passed the the test, the energy flowing through them rather than burning their veins. The compatible ones were led to an ornate meeting room in the Kingsglaive Headquarters, and told to wait for the examination to conclude. It seemed like every other fit galahdian was trying to get entry- about one in five seemed capable, extremely high percentage compared to the lucian citizenry. 

Crowe walked in, choosing a seat in the far corner, eyes down. Nyx waved, but she didn’t see, or care to respond. 

“She made it, at least.” Libertus shrugged. 

Nyx hummed in assent, glancing about. He recognized a couple of faces in the small crowd, but no names came to mind. He supposed it wouldn't matter. He would learn them if they were going to be working together. Tucking his braids back, he stretched. Libertus yawned, then drew himself up straight. Steps in the hallway, getting closer. Multiple people. The king, his shield, the captain of the glaive, and the newly named Marshal strode in, facing the new recruits.The king leaned forward, addressing his soldiers to be.

“You have shown affinity with the magic of this kingdom. Should you join my service, I will have you named my Glaives. An elite force, to strike back at the empire that burned your homes. I will not stand for this destruction. It is time to push back. Will you join me?” King Regis called, to be met with cheers. The king smiled.

“I’m glad to have you. This might seem rather rushed, as far as career advancements go. Background checks are rather difficult to do with the current circumstances. So I grant you pardon -your slate is clean. A new start- for Galahd and Lucis.” Nyx felt his core warm. This is what he came here for. This is what he wanted. 

“Now, each of you will need to be escorted to be photographed. Paperwork will be your first mission. Then fitting out for uniforms and equipment, and then the real training begins. A one week trial will be given to see if you really have what it takes.Titus Drautos is the Captain, and he will be in charge of training and commanding you. Heed him well. He does not impress easily.”

Drautos bowed at the compliment, and hushed murmuring ran through the hall. 

“Should you gain his endorsement at the end of the week, I will bond you to the magic of my blood. Go with honor.” The king stepped back, met with thunderous applause. He turned and left, leaving their new captain.

“You heard the King. My name is Titus Drautos- captain of the glaive. You are now my new recruits. Today we do paperwork and take measurements. Tomorrow, we see what you can do. Now, first order: Line up in alphabetical order by last name- A’s here by the door. Clerks are on the first door on the left hand side, they will call when they are ready. Return here when you are done. Should take a while. Refreshments and restrooms are on the right. I will be with the clerks if you have any questions. Have a good first day, recruits.” Drautos bowed, then waved for them to begin. 

The recruits rose, wandering to their supposed places. Crowe strode silently over to the front. A slight man with unruly brown hair tapped on her shoulder. 

“Arra?” He asked shyly, not meeting her gaze. 

“Altuis.” She responded, nodding as he shuffled in line behind her. The others slowly filtered in, checking names, chatting quietly. 

“Bellum?” “Behind me- Arra.” 

A young man with brown slicked back hair grumbled quietly, trying to find the L’s. He stepped up and tapped the next guy in line- a tanned stick of a teenager with dark eyes and wild black hair. “Lazarus?” 

“Khara.” The raven replied, stepping forward politely, giving him room to slide in. Lazarus did, and began chatting with Khara. Both stayed very polite, expressing wishes of success to each other in the coming training. Lazarus seemed to have ambitions of making an officer, while Khara was content to see how things went on their own. Neither spoke of their homelands, the burns and scars still freshly healed and very visible.  

Further down the line, Libertus and Nyx parted where the newly formed line wrapped around a corner. From their spots along the wall, they could see the entire room, and could maintain sight to each other without looking too out of place. There were only a few letters between O and U, and fewer people with last names between them. They maintained a quiet conversation of gestures and facial expressions.

 Nyx raised an eyebrow, cocking his head at Crowe, who was being led along with several others down the hall to get IDs. Libertus shrugged. The line shuffled forward, absorbing the space. Time began to crawl.

Nyx scanned the room, switching his weight to the other foot, leaning back against the wall. This was taking forever. Libertus nodded to the clock on the wall scratching his stubble, raising an eyebrow. Nyx shook his head, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly. This would take a bit. Not only ID’s, but papers declaring citizenship, papers allowing them to work for deposit, and not under the table as they all had been since they got here. Probably actual bank accounts too. They should be happy to get these papers so quickly, as the office of immigration was a backlog of chaos- too many people to deal with all at once. It was getting better by the day, but it was still months waiting for work papers. Here they were being given out easy peasy. 

Eventually Libertus was called forward, then Nyx. The office was an open space, where clerks manned computers and printers, quickly making folios for the new recruits. Nyx quickly smoothed his hair, and stepped forward for his mugshot. He stared ahead for the camera, expression attentive but neutral. Then he was shooed to the nearest open clerk and began filling out a stack of paperwork of which the likes he had never seen. 

Libertus yawned and twisted, several pops bursting from his vertebrae. It took almost four hours, but the last of the recruits came back- Nyx among them. Libertus waved down his friend, Nyx ambling over through the chatting glaives to be. 

“Captain stopped by- said the crownsguard mess would be providing lunch- then we get measured.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Nyx grunted, then followed as the captain called for his recruits to follow. Lunch was filling, but bland. Galahd knew how to appreciate spice- the spaghetti and meatballs barely had any hint of a kick. It did the job, and Nyx guessed that was all it had to do. 

Measurements went far faster than the paperwork, Ramuh be praised. Quiet conversation rumbled through the armory, recruits pointing to various pieces of armor and weaponry, appreciative and wary at the same time. Nyx joined Libertus in mocking the cumbersome polearms. Lighter spears were the best long weapon- pure speed when used correctly, and with extreme utility at any fighting distance. Nyx glanced at the small arms section with interest- looking at the curved blades. His only blade was back in that shitty excuse for an apartment- hidden at the bottom of his meagre possessions. One blade out of a set...the other blade far from here, on a battered shoreline....

Libertus shook his best friend, worried at the clouded look that passed over his eyes. It happened less often than it used to- every day was progress- but it still bothered the shit out of him, and Nyx’s triggers were inconsistent and hard to identify at times. Libertus squeezed Nyx’s shoulder, pointing at a ridiculous collection of greatswords. Nyx shook himself, and chuckled at the sight. Light weapons, spears, and ambush had been the way to be in the jungles of Galahd. Stealth. Speed. Precision. Those were the tools of the hunter. 

Drautos called them back into the meeting room as the last of the clerks packed up. 

“Today you did well. Being able to take orders quickly and quietly is a hallmark of a good soldier.  Tomorrow, after a quick physical, we test your capabilities. Wear something you can move in- sweats and tees are good for now, plus a water bottle. Full range of motion will be noted- and be sure- for the love of the gods- to note any allergies, food and medical. We almost lost someone to a peanut butter sandwich. I refuse to let a sandwich kill any glaive.” 

The group snickered. A sandwich was an inglorious death, but hilarious to note afterward. 

The captain led the group back out, towards the Citadel entrance, giving instructions to return here at 7am sharp. The group murmured its assent, and dispersed into the ever present crowd in the Citadel Square. Nyx and Libertus walked along slowly, talking about what magic felt like. Nyx got takeout, while Libertus got drinks. They reconvened at their tiny shared apartment- kids scampering in the halls, Crowe nowhere to be seen. 

“I worry about her, sometimes.” Libertus muttered through a mouthful of rice. 

“More like always. You have a thing for her, or what?” Nyx slurped on his drink, fluttering his eyes. Libertus shoved him. 

“Nah. I just...she doesn’t have anyone, other than us. Remember when we found her, on the edge of our village?” Nyx nodded, munching slowly. Emaciated, filthy. 

“I just want better for her. She feels like a little sister…” Libertus mumbled into his stir fry. Nyx stilled, trying not to sink into painful thoughts. Crowe did deserve better, and Libertus was a good man for wanting that. But still- uphill battle. She did accompany them, but getting her to talk was a challenge. It was getting better- but still. She had the nasty habit of lashing out at things that moved in ways she didn't like- but it did keep her safe all this way, even here in Lucis. Creeps who tried to grope her on the subway left with bruised ribs and clawed faces, if they were lucky. She had a mean hook and her knee had almost neutered a dude who thought he could cop a feel off a refugee free of charge. 

“Give her time. We are all dealing with the clusterfuck of what happened.” Nyx sighed, sipping. Libertus exhaled impatiently, then shrieked as a hand descended on his shoulder. Nyx jolted, then burst out laughing. Crowe smirked, appearing from nowhere, stealing several fries from Nyx. 

“I can handle myself. Little sister this.’’ She flicked Libertus painfully on the forehead with a nice crack. He recoiled, cringing and grumbling about unfairness and cruelty. Crowe tossed her dark hair, relishing her stolen fries, settling into her armchair- covered with cheap fluffy throws. Nyx chuckled at Libertus sulkily rubbing his head. Warmth settled in his chest, soft and soothing, where it hadn't in a while. Subconsciously he knew what it was, even if he couldn't bear to acknowledge it. That calm you get when people who care for you are around. Family.

The physicals passed uneventfully. Weight taken, height measured, blood pressure noted, sample taken. Nyx was unaware of any allergies he had- medicine or food. He was healthy, reflexes good. Range of motion good for a man his age, needs to stretch more, but who doesn’t? The doctor gave him a form clearing him of restrictions, clean bill of health, and instructions to make a copy to keep, and one to go in his folio. 

Nyx made his copies and dropped them with a clerk, jogging over to the main group of recruits milling about the arena, waiting for the captain to announce the next activity. From the looks of things, running was in his future. A glaive was taping off lines around the arena, clearly labeling a track. Nyx grinned. He could run, and so could Libertus, if not without grumbling about it the entire way. Libertus was more of a weights kind of guy. The captain called the group over, and began the next section of testing.

“Each of you will need to keep a log of your training. After today, notebooks and smart watches will be provided for you to log resting bpm, workout bpm, weight reps, and activities done. The goal here is to hone you into the best version of yourselves, and teach you to maintain that. Today is just an introduction into that. The rest of the week you will be joining the other glaives in their workouts- so they may teach you how we do things, and see if you can keep up.” Drautos read from his clipboard, checking off names. 

“Light jog around the perimeter- warm up.” 

Nyx loped off, finding an easy rhythm. Crowe tapped his shoulder and jogged up, shoulder to shoulder. She moved effortlessly, and Nyx relaxed into the movement further at her calm. This was something he could do for hours, and she seemed to be of the same thought. Quiet and decorum could be accomplished, and even enjoyed in small doses. But movement was a simple joy, action soothed the snarly, spiky bits of thought that could wander in when he was inactive. This was meditation. 

They ran side by side, picking up the pace as the captain called for it in intervals, enjoying the smooth simplicity. The group broke up, different individuals having different strengths. Nyx and Crowe ended up firmly in the middle of the faster individuals, along with that Khara kid and several others. The middle group was the biggest, working at keeping the pace a little harder, but keeping it nonetheless. Most just watched as the Lazarus dude bickered with a redhead named Tredd about what weapon style was best.  ]

The last group composed of the larger recruits, those being more strength based, rather than dexterity. It wasn’t a bad thing, to be slower. Heavy hitters were needed too. The group noted that Drautos didn’t reprimand the slower group, but encouraged them to keep a steady pace. It was a good start on his part in growing loyalty. It was grown, not given. 

Libertus blew Nyx away in the weight room, benching well over three hundred pounds. Nyx could bench his own weight, but not much more. His upper body needed work, along with core and glutes. He was still growing, barely twenty one. The meat hadn’t yet settled on his bones like Libertus, but it was getting there. Provided he started eating better, getting more meat with meals. Nyx couldn’t wait for a proper salary...he could get his own apartment, and have snacks…

“ Time to go, hotshot.” Libertus chuckled, tossing Nyx his jacket. They made their way back, once again getting cheap takeout stir fry, and settling in for an early night. Something told them that joining the real glaives would suck, and that they would need all the energy they could get. They were right. 

By the next afternoon, the newbies were aching all over. Resistance training focused on overloading muscles to build them stronger- and overload they did. The real glaives were nuts- the military branch was new, but Ramuh, they were no slouches. Even without touching magic and combat practice, they blew the recruits out of the water. Back at the apartment Crowe dropped into her chair with a moan, falling asleep almost instantly. Libertus followed quickly, snoring immediately. Nyx chuckled, limping over, tucking each of them in. He would have to visit the elder down the hall- she made medicine in Nyx’s village, the old recipes that made powerful balms and liniments. Flopping into his spot Nyx thought about the coming days and shuddered. It was just the beginning. 

Days faded into each other, the new glaives too tired to really let it sink in. The week passed, and they became official glaive trainees, with official glaive paychecks. The three of them got their first apartment together, thankful to be free of the kids running underfoot, and crocherty elders demanding their attention at all times. It was still small and dirty, with truly awful water pressure, but soon it felt like home. Crowe found colorful paper lanterns, and with some cheap string lights, it made a living room without proper wiring feel festive. Libertus stocked the kitchen, properly cooking meals, with the necessary heat, thank you very much. Nyx was happy to get his own room- he really was- but he missed the comfort of knowing Libertus was right there, should nightmares get the better of him. The thought bothered him, until one night he realized that no matter the thickness of the walls, Libertus’s snoring would prevail. He would never be free of the six-damned snoring. 

They grew, in their own ways. Libertus hardened- his arms, neck, and torso showing what he spent his training on. He was upset that his belly didn’t shrink, but the combat sessions showed that that may have been a good thing- a strong core with padding makes you difficult to push around. He settled in, confidence blooming. Libertus regained his cheer from before the genocide of his people, mostly. There was a sharper edge to his temper, and dark moods that were not there when they were kids. But life continued on. He tried new recipes in the meantime, having Nyx and Crowe test them out. It was pretty good, with one notable flop that had everyone fighting for the bathroom. That recipe was burned by Crowe the second she recovered, after wresting open every window she could find.

Crowe, now being fed properly, blossomed. She was still slight, but was stupid quick and flexible. Her dagger skills were amazing, and her magic affinity was proving to be something terrifying. Crowe bonded with the rest of the glaives, keeping them on their toes. The lesson was learned quickly, don't try to mess with her, you’d end up bleeding. But befriend her, and she would keep you laughing with wit and sarcasm. And the pranks. The unending pranks with the other glaives. It got so bad once, most of the glaive were afraid to open doors and cabinets, for fear of silly string and glitter bombs. The glitter never came out all the way. 

Nyx filled out slowly, gaining strength on top of his speed, endurance from nonstop aerial warp tricks. His shoulders broadened, and his arms gained some definition. He was happy, more than he had been in a while. He had an apartment with friends, a nice job, and steady income. The routine was stabilizing- having a clear expectation of what the days and nights would bring, and what was expected of him. The nightmares still happened, but less and less often. When Galahd burned, he felt the world had stopped turning. But here he was. Still alive, and growing stronger by the day. Nifelheim should fear them. They were coming. For hearth and home.

#glaiveweek2020 #glaiveweek #kingsglaive #some fluff #some angst #nyx ulric #libertus ostium #crowe altius #luche lazarus #pelna khara #titus drautos #regis lucis caelum #fic

[cosmosogler]

hi guys. not doin too hot. and by “not doin too hot” i mean “I AM TOO HOT OH GOD WHY”

don’t worry. when i realized i would not be able to fix the ac myself (at like 8:30 pm) i put in a maintenance request. so hopefully that will be fixed tomorrow or friday. again.

i feel bad putting in so many orders but like, 58 degrees is too cold and 80 degrees is too hot. please. i’m not THAT picky but it’s so much and i’m sweating all over my papers and i can’t tell if poor snoopy is uncomfortable or not. she spends a whole lotta time by where i have the fan on by an open window.

it doesn’t cool off my desk/bed area but at least my kitchen is a nice temperature.

when my alarm went off i realized that i just... did not sleep very much. i had bad dreams but i don’t remember enough about them to say why. i ended up skipping my first class to try to get SOME sleep but unfortunately i just laid there with my eyes closed feeling hot and miserable for 40 minutes. i was so pokey getting ready for school that i was actually late for my second class despite getting up with more time to get ready than usual.

i took notes on my ipad. it was nice. i like the line sensitivity. i picked up my pen from the mail room in the afternoon so now i can write more than four words per line too.

keegan and harrison and i got spaghetti lunch and then i went to my doctor’s appointment. the doctor took a look at my throat and lungs and stuff and said everything seemed fine but i could take some allergy medication that might help it clear up faster. so i did that. also my other problem with the birth control is ok if it happens once. if it happens three times in a row there’s gonna be a problem but otherwise between missing a day (even though i caught up) and all the stress and getting sick it could be anything.

the allergy medication also serves as a sleep aid and anti anxiety medication so she said if it works i could use it for the whole month or when i start sleeping normally again and if it doesn’t work to just stop usin it and don’t worry about it.

i helped ammar and rebika and luis get set up with the printer network in our building after a lot of hassle with my computer. luis and taylor were talking so loud that i couldn’t think at all and harrison was getting annoyed because i wasn’t using any of the convenient tools that computers have like search functions.

and i took my accommodation letters to both my professors and hashed out the test plan with them. my stat mech professor invited me to sit for a while and then... blocked the door with his chair. i don’t think he did it on purpose but I NOTICED. i got antsy immediately and i couldn’t seem to find a good opportunity in the conversation to leave.

i doubled my score on the prelims! now i have a 22/120 instead of, like, a 10. all i gotta do to pass is get up to ~60 though. but it was a DEFINITE improvement. i feel conflicted about it. on the one hand, i did double my score and that’s really impressive. on the other hand, the score is still total garbage and kind of embarrassing if it wasn’t already incredibly well established that i am really bad at taking tests no matter how well i know the material.

hopefully next time i won’t have the worst and longest cold ever.

i ended up spending like 2 hours hanging out with harrison and drawing on his blackboard. he said i draw really fast when i did a blue in about 30 seconds and i said “yes i’ve always drawn abnormally fast.” i did some base shape stuff with him and he showed me one of the symbols he’d been working on. 

jennica wandered in at one point to talk about the em homework and i was gonna die. “what is that?” she asked. “harrison is teaching me how to draw,” i said. i knew that she knew it was total bs because i was holding the chalk and had been drawing when she came in so i made a big deal out of saying over and over that i definitely wasn’t the one drawing. i think she understood it was a joke.

i biked home and picked up my mail and ran a quick errand (the corner store doesn’t carry the item i want any more so that’s a bummer. i’m gonna have to figure out what i want to do about that. the cashier said they might start ordering it again). i fiddled around with the ac trying to get one of the buttons to do the thing i want but it doesn’t seem interested in doing anything but blowing hot air into my apartment. i made some dinner while i did my dishes... i was out of plates. 

i should be drinking more tea but hot drinks just really don’t appeal to me right now.

then i sat down and started drawing. it took like an hour and a half to do three panels out of the seven on this one page. i had made my boards too crowded because i drew too big so i had to take pictures of my pages, load them up on my computer screen, and then erase my work and redraw each panel with everything a little bit smaller. it would have been fine except IT’S SO HOT AND IT’S SO HARD NOT TO SMUDGE MY LIGHTER LINES TO HELL.

snoopy was a little more active than usual today, at least when she was “hunting” for her cookies. i put them in slightly more out of the way places than usual and it looks like she got all of them in about ten minutes. i’m going to have to bump up the difficulty for her just a bit. though earlier i noticed that if i hide her cookies in places that require using her paws to get them out she won’t do it even if they are easily visible. 

maybe getting all those mats off her underside improved her mood. seeing just how much fur got shaved off her stomach, it was probably really hindering her movement.

a good thing todayyyyyy isssssss while i was waiting for the doctor i wrote a whole bunch of notes about nastasia. since my classmates’ em period starts 2 hours earlier this semester i got to the doctor’s office about 40 minutes before my appointment so i just settled into a chair and grabbed my phone and started typing. i’m working really hard to give these characters a common thread and i think it fits pretty well with the general theme of the story. i don’t know if i’m laying it on too thick or not though. it’s hard to write drafts for comics except for the individual scenes you’re currently setting up. i can’t go back and change the beginning because it’s done and uploaded. all i can do is adjust the current page.

so that’s a challenge!!!

it’s fun that having a group of characters with different manifestations of the same flaw creates such a disaster though. count bleck is such a dumpster fire. 

(i am also a dumpster fire and i write characters that are almost exclusively trash man level of emotional maturify)

GAAHHHHH IT’S GONNA BE 80 DEGREES TOMORROW??? THAT’S THE EARLY JANUARY WEATHER I WANT TO SEE!!!!!!

ok anyway it’s 10:45 now so i should probably start thinking about maybe getting ready for bed sometime. i’m so tired. but i really, really don’t want to sleep. i’m so tired of nightmares.

a good thing that i like about myself maybe is, uh, i’ve been working harder at following up with people lately. i was doing it before, but now i’m trying harder to make sure i ask people how a thing went if they bring it up earlier. like suzanne’s cousins are visiting today. i dunno. suzanne seemed impressed that i remembered, last time i did it with her. but now i don’t remember what it was i had asked her about!! i’m trying to find more ways to show people i care, i guess. as i get more and more sleep deprived though i am getting less good at remembering things to bring up in my conversations.

[justporo]

Full Circle Chapter 2: From the Beginning

I’m terribly sorry for forgetting to post the second chapter here. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

You tapped nervously on your knees. It was a very long flight, but almost over. You leaned your head back until you could see the luggage rack above you. You could see your bag through the bars and above that… You could see the respiratory masks that dangled preventively under the ceiling of this small plane.

You gulped – this had been the first flight in your life and it hadn’t been exactly joyful. For the most time the nice blonde girl beside you had chatted with you – obviously she had been trying to calm you down since you were sweating through all your clothes. She had told you her name was Angela and that she was from Switzerland and that Overwatch had asked her to join since she seemed to be a rising star in medicine even though she had only just turned 19. But it was almost the same with you: You had only been to University for two years studying computer science when you had been asked to join Overwatch. 

You clearly remembered the day: you had been at uni, programming a little something that would allow you to automatically search and sort all the literature you needed for all the damn essays you needed to write, when a man in a black suit and an Overwatch pin on his breast pocket wanted to speak to you. He introduced himself as a government official, coming to you on behalf of the famous Overwatch strike force. “You seem to be very talented in your field. Haven’t you won a price or two already for your works in data analytics and artificial intelligence?”, he had said and had smiled at you. You had smiled and waved it off – you had just fun doing all this stuff. “I spoke to your professors too. They all said you are one of the most talented students they have ever seen and that you could probably be already working on your PhD if you wanted to.” You had laughed a bit at that. True, exams weren’t much trouble to you – you just enjoyed having a bit of free time for friends and gaming too, so you didn’t rush your studies exactly. “Now to what we have to offer you. We offer you to join Overwatch. We will pay for your whole education and living costs. Besides your computer science studies, which you can of course continue while you’re with us, you will be trained in armed and hand to hand combat. And after your training is completed you will be deployed on missions.” Now, that had been a handful. Of course, you had dreamed as a kid to join Overwatch – you even had posters of all the agents hanging in your room at home. They had been the heroes that had saved the world. Who wouldn’t want to be like them. After he’d given you all the details the government official had left, telling you that he’d return in a week to get your final answer. And now, now you were sitting in a plane to Watchpoint Gibraltar – the place where the new recruits were to be trained. “Don’t worry, we are almost there”, Angela said beside you and gently squeezing your sweaty palm and giving you a big smile. You liked her already. She seemed to be a very nice and gentle person – also she had shared some chocolate on the flight with you, who would not like a person like that? And she was right too: Soon the plane set to landing. You fought your hardest not to panic and barely succeeded. When the plane had come to a stop Angela, you and the other handful of new recruits got up, grabbed their luggage and exited the small plane. When you left, you were immediately hit by bright sunlight. You could hear the sound of waves smashing against the cliff. You took a moment to get used to the light after the long flight and took in your surroundings: it was a wonderful day at Gibraltar. The sun was already slowly setting. From where you had left the plane and where the new recruits where now lining up to be welcomed you could see the ocean to your left and on the right and behind you – as you looked curiously around – were the buildings of the watchpoint. You were still turning left and right, trying to see as much as you could while standing next to the other recruits: 6 other young people plus Angela and you. “Recruits”, a harsh voice made you jump and turn to look in front of you again. A few persons had obviously come out of one of the buildings. You didn’t have to guess who they were. You could tell who everyone was by just one glimpse: Ana Amari, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Torbjörn Lindholm, Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes. They were all rather casually dressed: tees and what seemed to be combat pants and boots – everything of course with Overwatch emblem. “Recruits”, the harsh voice said again, this time a little softer. You realized it must be Commander Gabriel Reyes who was speaking “we welcome you all here at the Overwatch Watchpoint: Gibraltar. You were all chosen because you have very special, unique and outstanding talents.” Some of the recruits started cheering while Reyes walked along the line of them. He was just passing you and you could see the smug smile on his face. He turned on his heel. “This does not mean it will be easy”, he continued with a stern look on his face and eyeing you all seriously from under his black beanie. “You don’t pass a test, you’re out. You complain, you’re out. You do something you are not told to, you’re out. You disrespect me or my comrades, you’re out. You are late to an appointment, you’re out. For starters, you can lose the attitude: You might have been superior in what you’re doing where you came from but not here. This is an elite strike force and we will only take the best, most loyal and team-minded. If you can’t be that you can get right back on that plane.” Everyone had turned dead silent. Reyes stood in the middle of you, muscular arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes showing no emotion but the corner of his mouth slightly curled into a small smile, barely visible. While his eyes wandered from one to another along the line, your eyes locked for a single moment. You couldn’t stop yourself from mimicking his facial expression: one corner of your mouth slightly pulled up into a small, half-sided smile. You could have sworn there was a small glimmer in his eyes before he went to look at the person beside you. He slowly finished looking at everyone: “So, since no one decided to leave right away: Training starts tomorrow at 0600. I will see you all here. And remember: be on time!” With the last of his words he fully grinned, turned and walked off into one of the buildings. After that no one really knew what to do or say for a moment until Commander Morrison stepped forward and started speaking. In a completely different manner he welcomed you all, explaining that all your luggage would be brought to your dormitories which you all would share and that for this evening a welcome dinner was planned so the recruits could get to know the Overwatch agents which also would be your instructors. You were led to the dormitories by Athena – Overwatch’s service, analytics and security system – while she was telling the lot of you the story of the watchpoint: when it was built, what purpose it served, which rooms and locations where important to you. Arriving at the dormitories you were all split up into groups of two to share a room. You were lucky to hear you and Angela where meant to be roommates and you both smiled at each other, entering the small but clean and well equipped room. No windows, but a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and computer for each of you. In front of the beds stood your suitcases, on the bed lay a few pairs of Overwatch uniforms: tees, pants, jackets, even underwear, and a pair of boots – everything like you had seen the Overwatch agents wear – different only in the colour: agents wore grey or dark blue, recruits wore black. You unpacked your suitcases and chatted a bit until Athena reminded you that it was time for dinner. After putting on the uniforms, you and Angela left together. “Oh uhm. I need to go to the bathroom before we go. Please, you don’t have to wait for me. I’ll ask Athena how to find the room, okay?”, Angela said and hurried back into your shared room. “Let’s try and remember the way, recruit (Y/LN). We passed the cafeteria on our way here”, Athena said in her machine voice. You rolled your eyes at the AI trying to teach you but you still started walking. Finding the way wasn’t so easy though. The long hallways all looked the same, the best way to locate yourself was looking outside the window whenever you passed one. You were almost sure you had completely lost orientation you heard to voices from around a corner. “Was it really necessary to scare the new recruits that much. You know the last group didn’t make it at all. After two weeks, EVERYONE was out!” “It was you, who said, you only wanted the best, Jack, remember? I only try and find the best, not my fault if the U.N. brings us arrogant youngsters who can barely do anything but complain.” It must be Commander Reyes and Commander Morrison who were talking. You stopped in your tracks and gulped listening to their conversation: sounded like you were meant to have a lot of fun here. You heard Morrison sigh: “At least come to dinner with us to welcome the recruits.” “No, I have paperwork to do. I’ll get to know them tomorrow, Jack, that’s fairly early enough for me”, you heard Reyes say. “Well, then”, you heard Morrison say and his voice started to get quieter as he seemed to walk away in the opposite direction “see you later.” Reyes only groaned in response. You could hear that Reyes was obviously walking in the direction where you stood listening to their conversation. You panicked: of course it would look terrible when he found you sneaking and eavesdropping. You didn’t want to get thrown out on your first day. You rapidly turned around the corner like you had only just come along the hallway and crashed immediately into Reyes. You hit him with such speed and force that you tumbled backwards and would have fallen on your butt if Reyes wouldn’t have caught you with his inhumanly fast reflexes. “Watch, where you’re going, recruit!”, he said harshly, his big hands holding you so firmly it almost hurt. “I would but I can’t look around corners yet”, you spat back in a sudden fit of anger. He called you recruits arrogant? Well, he didn’t exactly seem like the perfect, humble role model. You glared at him but he didn’t seem impressed. His dark, almost black eyes watched you carefully. “Bit of a smartass, are we?”, he said and started grinning suddenly. “I hope you know when to shut that mouth of yours when it’s important. Otherwise we’ll have a problem with each other”, he spoke and slowly released you. “Cafeteria is down the hallway and then right.” He nodded into the direction. “Thanks, sir”, you mustered to answer before you rushed off. You angrily clenched your fist. This man would drive you insane if he always acted like that. “And watch, where you’re going, recruit.”

#overwatch #jack morrison #gabriel reyes #soldier76 #readerxreaper #readerxsoldier76 #readerxgabriel reyes #readerxjack morrison #mercy #angela ziegler #ana amari #reinhardt wilhelm #blizzard entertainment #watchpoint gibraltar

[returnerofthewrites]

Alola ke Ola: Beginning

(Mild NSFW warning - no lewd, just some nude, similar to that vent oneshot I did last year.)

“Thank you, sir, everything should be mailed to you by next week. And next... mister Bill?”

My ears flicked, the call of my name rising above the muffled sound of the rain pouring down outside, and I slowly looked up from my seat, peering around the room, spotting a middle-aged Persian lady staring right at me from behind the front desk. I turned to glance at my partner when I felt her pat my shoulder, and the Ninetales and I shared a brief smile before I got up and walked over, wiggling my footpaws against the smooth, cold floor. Other Pokemon wandered around in the back rooms, dressed up in suits, carrying stacks of paper, quietly chattering into their phones. I half-grinned as I saw them zip every which way – the folks of city hall were as busy as ever.

“That's me,” I said sheepishly, nodding a silent greeting at the gray-furred feline as I stepped up to the desk, a faint nervousness starting to tingle through me; I idly scratched at my jeans, the fresh-washed denim suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. “Has all the paperwork gone through?”

“Yes, it has!” She smiled slightly at me, then plucked a pen out from a nearby mug, sliding it and a small card across the wooden paneling. Her round face seemed to get even rounder as she let out a chuckle, whiskers shaking from the motion. “Hohoho, don't worry, dear, everything's fine. Just sign here, please.”

I looked down at it, then smiled wide, quickly taking the offered pen and hunching forward somewhat. I gave the license a once-over, scanning across my photo, the company logo and all the information I had filled out already, before spotting an empty line at the bottom; with a quick flick of my wrists, I jotted down my name, trying to write as carefully as I could despite my nerves. “Good?”

“Yup!” The Persian replied, shooting me a toothy smile as she leaned back, and I let go of a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, pulling my wallet out and slipping the now-official card inside with trembling hands. “You're now an officially-licensed Ryder!”

I nodded confidently at the cat – then furrowed my brow a bit when her words sank in, reaching over and drumming my fingers against the countertop. “You make that pun to everyone?”

“Maybe,” The Persian replied jokingly, her tail flicking towards a nearby Machamp as he sidled behind her, and she turned and winked at the fighting type before looking back at me. Slipping the pen back into the pocket of her dress, she grabbed a clipboard and flipped through a couple of pages. “You can start providing rides starting tomorrow, so we hope to see you getting out there as much as you can, okay, sir? Now, next up is...”

I didn't even hear her as she called out for the next Pokemon in line, the loose ends of my checkered shirt flapping audibly as I practically spun on my heels, looking back at my partner. The cream-furred fox smiled warmly at me, brushing a few wrinkles out of her hoodie and skirt as she stood up, and she slowly walked over, her expression brightening more and more at my good mood.

“Ready to go, Bill?” The Ninetales asked, a sparkle playing in her ruby red eyes.

“Yeah, Rose,” I replied, tucking my wallet back into my pocket and glancing out towards the doors, chuckling awkwardly when I heard the falling rain thump onto the roof. “Time to head home.”

Alola ke Ola! Ho'omaka!

“Finally, we're home!” I said wheezily, carefully pushing the door open as I stepped into the apartment, a blast of cool, air-conditioned air hitting me head-on, cooling the countless droplets that clung to my fur. I shook my head and chuckled, practically ripping my checkered shirt off as I strode down the hall, past the mini-kitchen, until I reached the main room. The lights above flickered on, helping to illuminate the otherwise-dreary surroundings, and I glanced over my shoulder at my partner, tossing my shirt onto the nearby table. “I guess a little storm can't stop this good mood, huh?”

“I'd be a little bit worried if it did!” Rose replied, stepping away from the lightswitch and ambling up to my side, her footpaws softly padding against the tile floor. I rolled my eyes and reached out to affectionately tousle her headfur, and she leaned into my touch, beaming sweetly.

“Hoo... it feels good to get that finished.” I let my arms drop back to my sides, a couple of my aura tassels slipping in front of my shoulders as I shook my head. “Honestly, I'm excited. Compared to working at the Pokemart back in New Bark, this is a big step up, huh?”

The Ninetales hummed an 'mmhm' in response, leaning in and giving me a gentle lick on the cheek, and then she stepped over to the window-wall, bringing a hand up to the glass and gazing out at Hau'oli City. Gray clouds blanketed the sky, the sun barely visible behind them, and numerous, colorful umbrellas milled down the sidewalks, Pokemon going here and there as the rain poured down. Despite the weather, a few swimmers – and even surfers – were still visible against the foam-filled ocean, locals and tourists alike testing their mettle against the waves.

“So, what now?” I spoke up after a few minutes had passed, leaning back and wiping at my ruffled torsofur. Light glinted against my pawspikes and blunted chestspike both, and I folded my arms, taking a deep breath and letting myself relax. “Did you have anything else going on, Rose?”

“Mm-mm,” The cream-furred fox shook her head, her ponytail of headfur waving, and she looked at me out of the corner of her eyes, smiling coyly before reaching down and tugging at the hem of her hoodie. My tail wagged once as she slowly started to disrobe, rising up onto her tiptoes and stretching out, and I started fiddling with my jeans not long after. “We could talk about how the job's going to work, if you want, but otherwise I think I just want to take it easy today. After all... you got the job, so we should celebrate, right? Maybe order a pizza?”

“That works for me,” I replied with a grin, undoing the button and letting my pants drop to my ankles, shivering slightly as a draft breezed past my sheath and ballsack. I couldn't help but smile wider when Rose fully tugged her hoodie off – her ample breasts dropping out with a slight bounce – and I took a step forward, leaning against a chair as I watched her strip. “Hopefully I won't need to look for another job for a while, unless they can find some way to make paperwork processing exciting.”

“Aww, I'm sure they did the best they could...” Rose said gently, folding her hoodie up and setting it aside. My eyes lingered longingly on her curves, and a pleasant twitch ran through my nerves when the fire type dropped her skirt, giving me a quick peek at her lacy, orange panties before her tails waved down to hide her rear. She turned around afterward, her muzzle curling into a soft smile as she walked up and closed the distance. “Besides, it sounds like it'd be a lot of fun! I bet you'll get to see all sorts of neat stuff, driving Pokemon around the island.”

“Hah, true,” I wrapped my arms around the cream-furred fox and drew her into a hug, her body heat washing over me like a hot bath; she let out a happy sigh before snuggling in close, smushing her bust into my chest and lightly swaying back and forth. We stood there for a couple seconds, and then I scooted over to the chair, pulling Rose along with as I sat down. “Still, I bet it'll be even better for finding places that all four of us can visit together. At least, if I end up driving for anyone outside of Hau'oli, anyway.”

“Oh, hush, I'm sure you will!” My partner gingerly swatted at an aura tassel, shifting sideways to settle onto my lap, her nine fluffy tails curling over the armrest and brushing against the floor. She leaned over to rest her head, and I nuzzled into her scruff of neckfur, her sidelocks tickling against my nose. “I really am happy for you, Bill... I'm happy for all of us. We got through moving to Melemele, and now you, me, Cyan and Erin have jobs, so we really are getting back to normal, aren't we?”

I peered across the table at the far wall and looked around the apartment, going from our hanging plant to the pencil mug sitting on my writing desk, then to the kitchen nook back the way we came in. My ears flicked as Rose trailed off, the sound of the rain filling the room again. “Yeah. Yeah, we are. And it feels good!”

“Hehehe...” All my muscles seemed to relax at once when the Ninetales snuggled up with me again, giggling under her breath. I eased even deeper into the chair's cushions, unable to keep one leg from twitching as I felt the lace of Rose's undies rub up on my leg. “Maybe we can both try to work on that, huh? I'm sure there's plenty of local guidebooks at the library I could check out...”

“How've things been over there, anyway?” I asked, shifting away a bit to look at my partner, and she cocked her head in curiosity, bringing her hand up to brush her bangs out from in front of her face. Scooting to the side, I leaned against the other armrest, managing to leave just enough room for the Ninetales to sit next to me. “With all the stuff I've been dealing with, I haven't gotten to hear much about how your work's going.”

“Well... it's been really good so far,” Rose said, scratching a bit at her scruff of neckfur, and I snaked my arms around her midriff, sliding them up to her underboob and giving her tits a bounce; they jiggled slightly, feeling heavy against my wrists. She smiled playfully and stuck her tongue out at me, reaching down and tracing a couple fingers over the blue stripe on my thigh in return. “It's way bigger than New Bark or Humilau's libraries ever were... mmm, it's kind of crazy to think about. But all of my coworkers have been really friendly, and it's been really relaxing to work the desk, too.”

“That's a shocker,” I quipped airily. When she gave me a confused look in return, I shrugged. “What? Don't think I forgot how much you seemed to hate checking things in and out for everyone back in Humilau.”

“Hey...” The cream-furred fox murmured, letting out a slight huff, her tails slowly curling up to her back, then uncurling down to the floor again. “That's just because nobody ever really came to the Humilau library, and they wouldn't let me help reshelf stuff when I was working the counter. Everyone here in Hau'oli seems a lot more relaxed, though... not just with the library, either, but in general, you know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” I nodded. “I mean, I was stuck having to wait a week before I could even get a job interview set up, and the guy who interviewed me just told me to let him know. That always seemed rare back in Unova, hah!”

“Mmhm, exactly.” Looking back at Rose, I shrugged a second time, prompting her to scritch the fur around my blunted chestspike. I grinned cheekily, bouncing her breasts a little bit more before scooting her closer to me, and she leaned in, pressing her muzzle against my cheek. “I think it's a really, really nice change of pace... I loved Unova, and I'm sure Cyan and Erin'll miss it, but aside from a few things, Alola seems like it's a lot more easygoing.”

“At least the ocean's still the same, heheheheh.” I glanced out the window-wall again at the city, the rain having died down somewhat. Some of the clouds had broken up, blue sky visible through the gaps, and a few strong sunbeams shined through, glowing yellow against the gray – there were even a handful of parasailers visible amidst the gloom. My tail wagged at the sight, audibly swishing back and forth. Parasailing... Cyan had mentioned that before, the other day. “Actually, I'm surprised that Cyan and Erin are getting on as well as they are. They seemed to take to moving a lot better than we did.”

“They didn't have a whole lot to bring with them, remember?” Rose remarked, glancing towards the ceiling, her ruby red eyes glazing over in thought as she looked up at the ceiling lights. “It's just like how we were when we moved from Johto to Unova. Besides, you saw how excited they were! Even Cyan, and he's usually too frumpy to show it! If they were nervous, that made them forget about it.”

I raised a hand and gestured at nothing, licking my lips as I mulled the comment over... and then I lost my train of thought when a couple sharp knocks echoed in from down the little entry hall. My ears twitched at the noise – one of them flicking right into my partner's headfur – and we both sat up a little bit straighter. Rose tilted her head slightly, trying to listen harder for the sound, and she slipped down off of my lap, taking a few steps away from the table when a second series of knocks rang out through the apartment.

“Hey, Bill, Rose!” A rough, youthful voice called out from the door, his words tinged with a heavy accent. He paused for a split second, then spoke up again, knocking a third time. “Y'there? Erin thought she saw th'two o'you comin' back from city hall, so she wanted t'come by an' check in!”

“Speaking of...” My muzzle curled upwards, and I slowly got up from the chair, walking up next to my partner and placing a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at me, then smiled, combing her fingers through her headfur. “Think I should go and put on some underwear?”

“I think he might be a little embarrassed either way,” She giggled in response, a faint blush rising onto her face, visible even through her fur. She leaned in and pressed her lips onto mine for a moment, then ambled towards the door, her tails wagging from side to side as she turned the corner and vanished behind the wall. “At least we can tell them the good news, though!”

Shaking my head, I turned around and waltzed over to our dresser, pulling open a drawer and quickly grabbing a pair of boxerbriefs. I hastily leaned against the edge of the bed and pulled them on, letting out a mild sigh as the tight fabric wrapped around my crotch. Then, I briefly gave myself a brush-down with my palms, feeling the chilly apartment air sink in as the warmth from Rose's inner fire faded away. My tail thumped a couple times against the bedsheets as I heard the door open.

“Bwah-! R-Rose, wh-what th'hell!?” There was a startled yelp, followed by someone else laughing merrily, and my grin grew even wider.

“Heeheeheehee! C'moooon, Cyan, don't get so antsy! It's okay!” Dusting my hands off, I gave my pawspikes a couple of idle taps before heading back towards the little hallway, slowing to a stop just a few short steps behind Rose as she opened the door a little wider to let our two friends in. The first one to make it in was a lithe Mienshao girl, clad in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, bouncing up and down as she ran right into Rose and wrapped her into a tight hug. “Hi Bill, hi Rose! How're you two doing today, huh, huh?”

“Heh, we're just fine, Erin.” I walked over to the two girls, reaching out and flicking one of Erin's ears with a finger. The pink mink pulled away from Rose and smiled widely at me – then perked up when Cyan stomped into the apartment, ducking his head somewhat so his horned helmet wouldn't leave a notch in the doorframe. The Samurott crossed his arms against his black tank top, trying very hard not to look flustered despite the cherry-red blush on his face, and I kicked back, leaning against the wall. “Seems like you're doing alright too, huh? You both finish your shifts for today?”

“I didn't have one!” Erin piped up, cutting Cyan off before he could speak, and she quickly zipped past Rose and I, scuttling into the main room, her tail and fur sleeves – the latter tied around her wrists as usual – flapping all along the way.

“D-Do th'two o'you have t'be hangin' 'round in nothin' but your damn skivvies...?” The blue-furred sea lion murmured under his breath, giving us a half-hearted glare, and I stretched an arm out, lightly clapping him on his back as he moseyed forward. Rose smiled gently at the younger Pokemon, giving him a pat on his helmet before wiping down the fur on her neck and breasts; Cyan tried his best to avoid looking at my partner's bare chest, managing to get a grin out of me in the process. “A-And I'm doin' good! I had a shift in th'mornin', so I'm all done, yeah!”

“Good! Now, go ahead and make yourselves cozy, okay? Bill and I have some news for the both of you,” Rose said, taking my hand in hers as we followed after Cyan, and she waved her other hand towards the chair opposite the one we had been sitting in just a few minutes earlier.

“Ooh, is it about the job? Did you get the job, Bill!?” Erin happily asked, bounding over from near the living room nook and grabbing my shoulders, giving me a bit of a shake in her excitement. Cyan brusquely pulled the seat out from the table, his cargo pants wrinkling as he 'fwump'-ed right down onto the cushion; Erin happily hopped into her friend's lap, eliciting a gasp, then a huff, out of the winded water type. “C'mon, tell us! You got it, didn't you!”

“Yeah, out with it,” Cyan added, somehow managing to forget his embarrassment as he looked between Rose and I, his fan-shaped tail thankfully slipping through the hole in the chair. He scrunched his nose for the briefest of moments when he took his helmet off, his stubby ears poking up into the air as he set the armor down onto the floor. “Y'said that y'were plannin' t'go t'city hall today, right? How'd it go?”

“It went decently enough...” I deliberately trailed off, and Rose smiled softly, then slowly plopped down into the other chair, her tails spilling out underneath the armrests as she loosened up; I walked up behind the chair and leaned against the back, casually tapping my footpaws against the floor. After a moment, I chuckled, shooting Cyan and Erin a wink. “Heh, yeah, I got the job. Even signed the license and everything.”

Erin nearly leaped out of the seat, pumping her fists happily, dimples forming in her cheeks as a huge smile wound its way onto her face. Her whiskers twitched as she fidgeted around, and even Cyan let out a small snicker, tapping his hands against the empty, shell-plated scabbards on his arms, even as he scooted sideways a little to give his friend a little extra wiggle room.

“Aaaaaaaah! That's really really great!” The Mienshao cheered, scooting around so much that she nearly slipped off the edge of the seat. “When do you start? Do they have you assigned anywhere? Show me your license! I wanna seeee!”

“So y'actually managed t'land somethin'?” Cyan leaned forward, resting one arm atop the table and stroking his mustache with the other. I walked over to my pants in the meantime, fishing my wallet out from the pocket and pulling out the newly-minted card, and I tossed it over to Erin, who snatched it out of the air and looked it over. “For Arceus' sake, it's 'bout damn time! Good t'hear they hired you after all! They took long enough t'decide, bah!”

“I think city hall might have a tiny more on their plates than your usual personal trainer does,” I snarked back, sitting down with Rose and crossing my legs. The Ninetales giggled softly at the remark, her ponytail of headfur swinging as she shook her head, and she leaned into me, her breasts shifting ever-so-slightly against my chest. “And it isn't set up like that, Erin, I just have to turn the app on and wait for someone to text and ask me for a ride. I'm going to have to figure out a schedule and all that on my own.”

“That's so cool, though!” Erin said brightly, rocking back and forth on her backside as she stretched her hands out, holding my Ryde license under the light. After a few more moments, she slid it back over to me, fluffing her fur sleeves and glancing out the window-wall afterward. Just a second later, the younger Pokemon looked back at me, excitement welling up again. “Oh oh oh, what if you get Pokemon going on their island challenges? I bet you'll have more chances to come and visit me at the center, heeheehee!”

“Yeah, that is somethin', now that y'mention it!” Cyan chimed in. I glanced at Rose when she slowly got up from the chair – her nine fluffy tails swishing as she walked over to the mini-kitchen – then looked back at the Samurott as he snapped his fingers impatiently. “There've been a few new folks over at th'gym th'past couple o'weeks, an' they said they're stayin' here in Hau'oli until they can head over to th'other side o'th'island for their trial. Maybe you can ask 'em 'bout what it's like, if you end up goin' into Kekona City...”

“Hey!” Erin replied, letting out a mild, playful huff as she put her hands on her hips. “You should be the one to do that if you're so interested in the island challenge, you big grumpy gus!”

“An' what's that supposed t'mean, eh?” Cyan shot back, giving the pink mink an annoyed look.

I briefly peered outside as the Samurott and Mienshao crabbed at each other; the storm had mostly stopped, but the gray, dreary clouds remained, hanging still above the apartment grounds. I leaned to the side, peering past some of the buildings at Ten Carat Hill, the top of the peak hidden behind the lingering mist. If nothing else, I didn't envy whoever had to drive out there today.

Then again, if the front stopped and sat here for a few days, it might be me after all.

The sound of clinking glass and a running faucet caught my attention, and I shook myself out of my trance, turning my head towards Rose as she slowly walked back over to the table with a few glasses of water held in her arms. The nine-tailed fox smiled warmly at the two younger Pokemon, setting the drinks down and wiping her hands on her panties, the cream-colored fur around them getting ruffled somewhat from the moisture.

“It'll be the last big change for all of us, but...” She wondered aloud, reaching up and shyly scratching behind her ears afterward. I smiled, grasping her other hand and giving her a comforting squeeze, and she chuckled to herself. “Hehe, it means that we'll be back to normal, right? Well, mostly normal, anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah...” Cyan replied; Erin looked at him and gestured at one of the water glasses, then took it for herself when the sea lion shook his head. The fighting type quickly downed it all in just a couple gulps. “So what're you two plannin' t'do now? If y'don't start 'til tomorrow, does that mean you've got nothin' goin' on?”

“Eh?” I grunted, grinning and reaching back to scratch at my aura tassels as the Samurott's comment sank in. Rose slowly walked back over to our chair and folded her arms on top of it, and my tail wagged a couple times when I felt my partner's breasts squish my ears down a little bit. I stole a quick glance at the Ninetales, who was gazing quietly out at the city, before replying. “Er, Rose and I were probably going to take it easy and celebrate for dinner, but yeah, we're free this afternoon. What's the deal?”

“Celebrate for dinner? What, y'mean order a cheap pizza or somethin' like that? Bah!” Cyan barked, rolling his eyes dismissively and shuffling around in the seat, smacking his fanned tail against the woven wicker. I sheepishly sighed and nestled my head a little more comfortably underneath Rose's bust, opting not to tell the Samurott that he was exactly right. “How's 'bout you two come on next door later in th'evening! I've got a recipe I've been wantin' t'test out anyway, so it's a good excuse!”

Erin gasped at that, then tittered cheerfully, hopping up off of the chair and rocking back and forth on her heels, only to look back at her friend when he tugged on her tail like a leash. She blew a raspberry at him, then looked back at Rose and I; my partner chuckled at their antics. “Oooh, yeah, that'd be lots of fun! Please, Bill? Rose? It's been such a long time since we had a big family meal together, too...”

“Yeah, now that y'mention it, when was th'last time th'two o'you came over?” I sat up a little straighter, briefly looking up at the ceiling in thought at the question. The water type kicked the heels of his boots against the tiles a couple times, cracking a toothy smirk and snorting. “Heh, I guess that's another excuse t'have y'both over. Does seven o'clock work for you?”

“I don't know,” I said, glancing up at Rose, nudging her with the flats of my pawspikes to get her attention. “What do you think? It would be a lot better than what we were thinking before.”

“Mmm...” Rose tilted her head from side to side, ponytail slipping over her shoulders as she mulled the offer over. The fire type peered down her nose at me for a moment, then smiled in agreement, her tails waving up and down as she continued. “That sounds great, Cyan. Bill and I were just thinking of doing something... um, simple, before, but it really would be great to have a proper get-together... Erin's right, it's been too long.”

“That settles it, then!” I reached my arms out, rapping my knuckles on the table as I grabbed the other glass of water and took a sip. Licking my lips, I grinned cheekily at the Samurott and Mienshao sitting across from us, shaking my head towards the kitchen nook of the apartment. “I'm already looking forward to it, hahahah!”

“Woo hoooooo! Ooh, this is gonna be so much fun, heeheehee,” Erin cheered, spryly bouncing off of the chair and skipping down the hall, waving her arms at Rose and I as she vanished down the hallway, her small pink tail wiggling all along the way. “I'm gonna go preheat the oven, okay, Cyan? Seeya later, Bill, Rose!”

“Hang on, Erin-!” Cyan blurted out, his eyes going wide as the pink mink fled out the door, and he quickly got up, dusting himself off and shaking his head irritably. Light glinted off of the shell plates on his arms and shins, and he snatched up his helmet, set it back atop his head, and let out a gruff grumble. He took a couple steps forward, boots scuffing against the tiles, then turned back towards us. “Ah, Arceus dammit, not again. See y'in th'evening, alright? Sheesh, Erin, will y'wait up-!?”

I hopped up and slid my way away from the table, giving the two younger Pokemon a short wave as they departed, tapping the tips of my footpaws on the floor; the tiles sent a chill through my pawpads, and I briefly shivered, folding my arms against my blunted chestspike to keep warm. My ears flicked as the door creaked open, then swung shut, and I turned to look at Rose... only to balk when I found her standing mere inches away from me, our noses nearly touching. The Ninetales looped her tails around my back, gazing kindly at me, and she let her head droop, resting her chin on my shoulder.

“Hehehe...” She giggled under her breath, letting her hands wander down to my hips, and I sighed pleasantly when I felt her slip her hands down towards underpants, the waistband bending over her knuckles. Licking my lips again, I nuzzled my partner's cheek, her headfur tickling my nose. “Mmm. To be honest, a home-cooked meal does sound like a fun way to celebrate. We all deserve to have a little down-time, after all!”

“What if I tried making something?” I said, muzzle curling into a joking smile, and she hunched forward, poking at one of my aura tassels in response. Letting my fingers rest on the small of her back, I pulled the fire type in close – her bare breasts squishing into my torsofur – and laughed, a tingle of arousal running down my spine. “I take it that's a no?”

“Maybe if it was breakfast for dinner,” Rose replied, pulling her head back and deliberately wiggling her boobs against the fur around my blunted chestspike, fluffing the sensitive spots to tease me. My tail swished back and forth from the sensation, and I trailed my fingertips all over her back, eliciting a shaky coo from the cream-furred fox. “Besides, you're the one who's supposed to be celebrating! You of all Pokemon should be taking it easy tonight.”

“Eh, that's true.” I shook my head, looking towards the window-wall when the pitter-pattering of the rain began to pick up strength again, water spattering against the glass and trailing down the side of the apartment building. Rose's tails tickled against my sides, and I nudged them with my hip, chuckling. “Heh, still, that means we're free for a good few hours... anything you want to do?”

The Ninetales smiled coyly, her ruby red eyes shining in the light as she brought a hand up and curled a few locks of her headfur between her thumb and forefinger. “How about a movie?”